Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Morning Briefing: A day to mend

NEW YORK

FIRST PITCH: After salvaging their series finale at Dodger Stadium to go 2-3 on a trip to Oakland and Los Angeles, the Mets have a day of rest Monday. It looks like they need it.

David Wright departed Sunday’s game in the third inning with muscle spasms on the right side of his neck, which apparently began bothering him earlier in the weekend. Daniel Murphy then departed in the ninth inning with right-calf soreness.

Wright is in the midst of a career-high 143 at-bat homerless drought. His previous career high came earlier this season (136 at-bats).

The Mets resume play Tuesday at Citi Field against the Braves. Dillon Gee (4-6, 3.84 ERA) opposes left-hander Alex Wood (9-9, 3.05) in the 7:10 p.m. series opener.

Monday’s news reports:

• Lucas Duda produced a pair of home runs and a career-high five RBIs as the Mets beat the Dodgers, 11-3, on Sunday. Duda now has five homers in his past six games, making him a strong candidate for NL Player of the Week. His 26 homers for the season rank him third in the National League, trailing only Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton (32) and Chicago’s Anthony Rizzo (29).

In the sixth inning, the Mets turned their first triple play since May 19, 2010 in Washington. With Yasiel Puig on second base and Adrian Gonzalez on first base and no one out, Matt Kemp hit into what appeared poised to be a double play. However, Puig decided to ignore a stop sign from his third base coach and head home. He was comfortably beaten by Duda’s throw on what became a 5-4-3-2 triple play. It was the 11th triple play turned in Mets history.

Ruben Tejada, starting at shortstop over Wilmer Flores, contributed a two-run homer to snap his long-ball drought at 163 at-bats.

Making his first start since returning from bereavement leave, Bartolo Colon (12-10) limited the Dodgers to two runs on five hits and one walk in six innings. Colon now plans to return to the Dominican Republic to be present for his mother’s funeral Thursday. He will rejoin the Mets in time for his scheduled start Saturday against the Phillies in Queens.

That is, Colon will face Philadelphia provided he is not traded first. He reportedly was placed on revocable waivers over the weekend.

If Sunday's game happened to be Colon’s last start -- and it probably was not -- his last pitch as a Met coaxed the triple play. ESPN’s Mark Simon notes that would be reminiscent of Joe Pignatano, who hit into a triple play in his last career at-bat, back in 1962 with the Mets.

The Angels and Dodgers make sense for Colon as in-season landing spots, one MLB executive suggested. Tigers VP Scott Reid also watched Colon pitch Sunday, but he was at Dodger Stadium all week and an insider does not believe Detroit would be interested in Colon because of the salary attached.

Meanwhile, the Mets snapped a six-game Dodger Stadium losing streak. It was their longest skid at the stadium since also losing six straight in 1980 and ’81.

Read game recaps in the Post, Daily News, Newsday, Star-Ledger, Times, Journal and at MLB.com.

• Read more on Wright in the Post, Daily News and Star-Ledger.

• Read more on Duda in Newsday.

• Long Island native Steven Matz tossed five scoreless innings as Binghamton beat Akron, 5-2. Kevin McGowan took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and St. Lucie held on for a 3-2 win against Jupiter. Persio Reyes tossed seven scoreless innings in Kingsport’s 9-1 win against Johnson City. Michael Conforto drove in three runs for Brooklyn in a 10-1 win against Tri-City. Read the full minor-league recap here.

From the bloggers ... Faith and Fear explores the concept of fun where the Mets are concerned. ... Blogging Mets suspects the Mets are gearing up to trade Noah Syndergaard.

BIRTHDAYS: Pedro Feliciano turns 38. ... Choo-Choo Coleman was born on this date in 1937. ... Gary Matthews Jr. is 40. ... Neal Musser is 34.

TWEET OF THE DAY:

YOU’RE UP: How many home runs will Lucas Duda finish with this season?

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