Murphy homers three times in B-Mets loss

Binghamton's Dan Murphy had the best offensive game of his young professional career Monday, belting three homers, driving in five runs and scoring four times.

The only drawback was the 23-year-old third baseman did so in the Mets' 8-7 defeat at the hands of the visiting Reading Phillies.

Murphy belted a two-run homer to right field in the third inning, repeated the feat in the seventh and added a solo blast in the ninth. He also walked and scored in the first on teammate Caleb Stewart's roundtripper to left.

He raised his batting average to .332 and now has eight homers -- three behind Eastern League leader Jeff Nettles of Bowie -- and 35 RBIs, five behind the pace set by Akron's Wes Hodges, over 49 games.

Chosen by the Mets in the 13th round (394th overall) of the 2006 First-Year Player Draft out of Florida's Jacksonville University, Murphy went 4-for-5 in a 9-0 win over the Connecticut Defenders on May 19.

In his first full season as a pro playing for the Class A Advanced St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League last season, he batted .285 with 11 homers and 78 RBIs in 135 games.

Fabio Castro (4-0) allowed two runs on one hit, fanning one and walking two over two innings to pick up the win for the Phillies (21-27) in relief.

Eddie Kunz (1-2) yielded three runs on three hits, striking out three and walking two over 1 1/3 frames to take the loss for the Mets (24-25).