Pitchers proving they're not always pushovers at plate

The New York Mets already had one of the game's most celebrated starting rotations, and now their pitchers are outdoing each other in an entirely unexpected manner.

With their bats, not their arms.

Last weekend, Bartolo Colon hit the first homer of his career at age 42 in San Diego. It was a moment that seemed hard to top, but Noah Syndergaard did his best when he went deep twice in Los Angeles against the Dodgers on Wednesday night. This wacky stretch of unlikely slugging is a reminder that as overmatched as pitchers are at the plate, they are capable of making solid contact on occasion.

''We definitely take pride in it,'' San Diego right-hander Colin Rea said. ''We compete against each other as a staff. We spend more time on it when we are at home just because we have more time and we can take BP on the field. Usually on the road we don't do too much.''

National League pitchers combined for 23 homers last year, with Madison Bumgarner of San Francisco setting the pace with five. Bumgarner actually posted a .743 OPS last season in 77 at-bats, an unusually respectable mark for a pitcher.

Bumgarner is 2 for 20 to start this season, but one of his hits was a homer. Jake Arrieta and Adam Wainwright have also gone deep in 2016.

So has Kenta Maeda, the Los Angeles right-hander who gave up the two homers by Syndergaard.

''It was a dream,'' Syndergaard said. ''It wasn't real.''

Syndergaard is hitting .200 for his young career, and he now has three home runs to his credit. So he's not an automatic out, and at 6-foot-6, 240 pounds, he can drive the ball when he makes contact.

''When you're that big and strong obviously, if you can put that barrel on the ball you can hit a homer,'' Mets manager Terry Collins said. ''He does handle the bat pretty well, but you never expect any pitcher to a hit home run.''