After nine straight games at home in Citi Field, the Mets traveled to the West Coast to start their road trip in San Diego against the Padres. The significance of this series was the implications on the National League Wild Card race. San Diego entered the series ahead of the Mets by five and a half games, with the Mets being the “first out” and chasing the Diamondbacks, Padres, and Braves.
The teams split the series, alternating wins. The series ended in walk-off fashion, as seemingly many of the Mets games have recently. Losing the last game on a walk-off leaves a sour taste, but the Mets will right back at it as they continue their west coast road trip against the top Wild Card team in the NL, the Arizona Diamondbacks.
On the injury front, the Mets received some bad news on two fronts. Paul Blackburn was placed on the 15-day IL after taking a line drive off his right hand. He injured it in this San Diego series while putting his hand up to protect his face.
Brett Baty has gone with a broken finger at AAA Syracuse. Baty was sent down and has seemingly been replaced on the major league team with the emergence of Mark Vientos. However, he was likely to be a call-up later in the year when rosters expand. This year in the minors, Baty has hit .261 with 16 home runs and 43 RBIs.
Here are the by-game rundowns of the Padres series:
Game 1: Mets 8, Padres 3
The Mets were led by Luis Severino, who was solid on the mound following a complete game shutout in his previous start. Vientos had another strong game from the number two spot in the lineup.
The Mets offense was strong, producing 17 hits on the game. With the exception of Francisco Alvarez, who had a potential season-altering game winner against Baltimore (read about that here), every other starter in the Mets lineup had at least one hit. Brandon Nimmo was the only starter with one hit, and every other starter had two or three hits. Ironically, the Mets did not produce any home runs. Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil had three hits and one RBI apiece, and Vientos had three hits, including his 20th double of the season. Vientos drove in three for the game.
Severino threw 87 pitches across five innings. He gave up one run on five hits with four walks and five strikeouts. The win moved Severino to 9-6 on the season with an ERA of 3.84. He was followed by Danny Young, Reed Garrett, and Phil Maton, with one scoreless inning each. Huascar Brazoban had an adventure in the ninth, giving up two runs and throwing 36 pitches in the inning to end it.
For San Diego, Luis Arraez, Jurickson Profar, and David Peralta had two hits each. Mason McCoy produced the first RBI of his career. Profar also had an RBI.
Dylan Cease started for the Padres, and had a good start despite being out dueled by Severino. He went 6.1 innings and was charged with three runs (two earned) on nine hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. The loss brought Cease to 13-10 on the year with a 3.43 ERA. He was followed by Bryan Hoeing, who went 1.2 innings without being charged with a run. Logan Gillaspie was roughed up in the ninth, giving up five runs.
Game 2: Padres 7, Mets 0
Joe Musgrove was dominant for San Diego, picking up his first win since April 21st in his third start back from the IL due to a right elbow injury. The Mets had just two hits in the game, while the Padres had 16. Of greater concern for the Mets moving forward, their starter Paul Blackburn exited in the third after taking a liner off his right hand while shielding his face.
The two Mets hits were a double each, by Starling Marte and Francisco Lindor. For Lindor, it was his 34th double of the season. The Mets struck out 14 times to go with their two hits. Vientos struck out three times.
Blackburn’s final line for the game was five runs allowed on 10 hits, with no walks and one strikeout. He also allowed two home runs in his 2.1 innings of work. The game increased his ERA on the year to 4.66, with a record of 5-4. Ryne Stanek took over after Blackburn left with the injury, going 1.2 innings and being charged with a run. Young went two scoreless before Adam Ottavino went the final two frames and allowed an additional run.
For the Padres, the offense was running on all cylinders. Every starter had at least one hit. Arraez set the tone with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the first, and finished with three hits and two RBIs on the game. Manny Machado also had three hits and an RBI. Kyle Higashioka also had a two-run home run as part of his two hit, three RBI game. Jake Cronenworth drove in the other run for the Padres.
Musgrove was practically unhittable for San Diego. He only threw 75 pitches over his seven innings of one-hit ball. He did not walk anyone and struck out nine. He only faced one over the minimum amount of batters through the seven innings. Jason Adam continued the same pattern in the eighth, striking out the side. Sean Reynolds took the ninth, and while striking out two he did give up a hit to Lindor.
Game 3: Mets 7, Padres 1
The Mets guarantee at least a split of the series in San Diego, behind two home runs by Lindor, one of which being a grand slam. Six of the seven Mets runs came courtesy of round trippers to back another strong start by David Peterson.
Aside from Lindor’s two home runs and five RBIs, Harrison Bader added a solo home run for the Mets. Alonso had an RBI double in the top of the first to start the scoring. Marte was the only other Met to produce a hit.
Peterson continued his very strong 2024 campaign by matching the longest outing of his career. Over 7.1 innings, he allowed one run on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts. In what was a great month of August for Peterson, he allowed only six earned runs across five starts. His season record is now 8-1 with an ERA of 2.85. Dedniel Nunez was next up, making his first appearance since July 23rd. He went the final 1.2 innings, allowing only one hit and striking out three.
For San Diego, their only run came in the fifth inning on a groundout by Arraez. Higashioka had two of the six Padres hits, and Profar had his 24th double of the season.
Michael King went five innings in picking up his seventh loss of the season to go along with 11 wins. While he surrendered five runs, only one was earned (Machado had an error shortly before Lindor’s grand slam). Adrian Morejon pitched a scoreless sixth, Yuki Matsui followed with an inning where he surrendered one run, and Gillaspie went the final two innings, giving up one run.
Game 4: Padres 3, Mets 2
Four home runs produced all five runs in this game. Edwin Diaz and the Mets bullpen gave up a two run lead after seven innings, to end the first series of the road trip on a sour note.
Vientos and J.D. Martinez were the only Mets to have multiple hits in the game, with two each. Those players were also the ones that had a solo home run each. Martinez hit his 15th in the four inning, with Vientos delivering his 21st in the seventh.
Jose Quintana got the start for the Mets, and went 6.1 innings. He shut out the Padres while allowing four hits with two walks. He did not strike out any Padres. Jose Butto has come back to earth after a stellar start to his bullpen career. Over 1.1 innings, he was charged with two runs on two hits with a walk and strikeout. It was his second blown save of the year. Maton went the next 0.1 inning, before Diaz was tagged with his second loss of the season.
Profar tied the game up in the eighth with a two run home run, his 21st of the year. Rookie Jackson Merrill had the game winner in the ninth.
Starter Martin Perez went only 3.2 innings for the Padres. He allowed one run on four hits with three walks and a strikeout. Hoeing then threw a scoreless 1.1 innings, and Jeremiah Estrada one scoreless inning. Adam was tagged for one run in the seventh before a scoreless eighth from Tanner Scott and scoreless ninth from Robert Suarez. For Suarez, he earned the win to move his record to 8-1 on the season.
Up Next
After an off day on Monday, the Mets continue the road trip by traveling to Arizona to play the Diamondbacks for three games. Arizona is another team in the thick of the playoff race, currently holding the top Wild Card spot in the National League. The expected starters for the Mets in the first two games are Sean Manaea and Severino. The starter for the third game has not been named yet.
Stats by espn.com and mlb.com
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