Francoeur, Barajas hit 2 homers each in Mets' victory

The wind was blowing so fiercely at Citi Field on Friday night that Mike Pelfrey's cap was knocked off during a sixth-inning pitch.

"I felt like I was at the pool table picking up cue balls and trying to chuck 'em across the plate," he said. "It was tough."

Getting a home run through that wind to leftfield was not going to be easy, you'd think, especially for a Mets team that had hit none since David Wright's first-inning shot on Opening Day.

Except that the Mets hit four out to left Friday and almost had five. Rod Barajas and Jeff Francoeur went deep twice each and Pelfrey pitched six strong innings in an 8-2 win over the Nationals before 28,055 chilly fans.

The four home runs were a Citi Field record for the Mets (2-2), who hadn't hit four in any park since Sept. 17, 2008, in Washington.

"We knew that we have some guys that have that type of power," manager Jerry Manuel said. "To see them displaying it tonight was something we probably needed to see."

Francoeur had a solo homer and a two-run blast and Barajas had a pair of solo shots. Barajas' second one broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning. Francoeur's second one made it 6-2 in the seventh.

The only Met who had his potential home run knocked down by the wind, which was 20 miles per hour at game time, was Wright.

With the Mets leading 3-2 and one out in the seventh, Wright hit a long drive to left. Unlike the others, this one had a ton of loft on it. Wright, thinking the ball was out, jogged around first base with his head down and had to pick up the pace to make it to second after the ball hit high off the wall.

Luckily for Wright, Nationals leftfielder Josh Willingham got too close to the wall and allowed it to bounce past him, so there was no play at second.

"I thought David's ball hit the third deck," Pelfrey said. "Obviously he did, too."

Said Manuel: " got on him pretty good."

In the end, no harm was done. Wright scored two batters later on Fernando Tatis' pinch single before Francoeur smacked his two-run blast.

"I think I just hit it a little too high," Wright said. "I hit it good, but I'm glad Jeff was able to go deep after that and really show me up."

Pelfrey was as good as the conditions were bad. He allowed two runs and four hits in six innings with four walks and four strikeouts. Manuel said he thought Pelfrey did a good job of not wandering around the mound or stalling between pitches. "He stayed right on top of the hill," Manuel said. "That to me is a sign of confidence."

Notes & quotes: Ruben Tejada picked up his first major-league hit with an eighth-inning single. After the game, he was demoted to Triple-A Buffalo to make room for Jose Reyes . . . After going 3-for-4 Thursday, Ike Davis hit his first home run Friday for Buffalo. Mike Jacobs, 0-for-2 Friday, is 1-for-11 . . . Fernando Nieve (scoreless eighth inning) has appeared in all four games and has not allowed a run . . . Luis Castillo sat out with a sore right calf.