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Apr 28, 2016 - 7:41 PM Not known as a home-run hitter, new Mets second baseman Neil Walker's sudden power stroke has helped key New York's surge.

The San Francisco Giants' run has been spurred by a couple of regulars in their lineup in Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence.

Walker and the Mets go for a seventh straight win in Friday night's series opener against the visiting Giants, who are seeking a sixth victory in seven games.

New York (13-7) was expected to be carried by its talented starting rotation but the bats have been instrumental to the team's success.

Walker hit his ninth home run to tie for the major league lead in Wednesday's 5-2 win over Cincinnati, giving the Mets 30 homers on the season - 18 games sooner than they hit reached the mark in 2015.

''Sometimes you go through stretches where you're seeing the ball well,'' said Walker, who tied the team record for April home runs set by Dave Kingman in 1976 and matched by Carlos Delgado in 2006 and John Buck three seasons ago. ''In this case I'm seeing the ball well and I'm barreling balls up but they're not singles. They're turning into balls in the seats, so it's obviously been a good April so far.''

The future is also looking bright with Yoenis Cespedes set to start for the first time in six games after being hampered by a bruised right thigh. Cespedes is second on the team with six home runs and is batting .367 during an eight-game hitting streak.

Eight of Walker's homers have come in the last 12 games, with the Mets winning 10.

"We're playing good baseball," Walker told MLB's official website. "Two sweeps in a row, we're doing pretty well. We're swinging the bats pretty well."

The same is true for Belt and Pence, who combined for seven RBIs in Wednesday's 13-9 win over San Diego.

Belt is batting .467 with six walks and six runs during a 5-1 run for San Francisco (12-11), while Pence is hitting .476 with six extra-base hits.

The two will get their first look at Steven Matz (2-1, 5.40 ERA), and the left-handed hitting Belt has an advantageous matchup despite facing a southpaw. Belt is one of the league's top left-handed hitters against lefties, going 6 for 20 with three extra-base hits, and Matz has allowed left-handed batters to go 6 for 14.

Matz has given up two runs while striking out 17 over 13 1/3 innings in back-to-back wins after being tagged for seven runs in 1 2/3 innings by Miami in his season debut.

"Just more of a focus out there on each pitch and take it pitch by pitch," Matz said after giving up two runs over 6 1/3 innings of Saturday's 8-2 win at Atlanta.

Jake Peavy (1-1, 6.86) yielded two runs over seven innings of Saturday's 7-2 win over the Marlins after posting a 9.00 ERA while going five or fewer innings in each of his first three starts.

"Fastball command was still a little bit shaky," he said. "Got to clean that up, but my delivery was much cleaner.''

Peavy surrendered two runs in seven innings of a 4-1 loss July 8 in his lone 2015 start against the Mets.

He has regularly frustrated Curtis Granderson and David Wright, though Walker homered for his only hit in three career at-bats against the veteran right-hander.

Granderson, hitting .400 in the last eight games, is batting .167 in 24 at-bats against Peavy while Wright is 3 for 19 with eight strikeouts. Wright's .158 average versus Peavy is his sixth-worst among the 76 pitchers he's faced at least 20 times.