New York- For about five innings, it looked like the New York Mets’ offensive slump would turn into a legitimate crisis. After getting stymied by San Diego Padres’ ace Joe Musgrove early, a run from the Padres in the sixth inning looked like it could be a crippling blow. The Mets (59-37) did finally wake up, however, scoring five runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to defeat the Padres (54-43) 8-5 to avoid a series sweep.
Carlos Carrasco started for the Mets and worked into and out of trouble over five shutout innings but was matched zero for zero by Musgrove. San Diego finally came through in the sixth against Drew Smith, who gave up a two-out double to Eric Hosmer to make it 1-0. Austin Nola was bidding for more with a deep drive to the gap in left-center but Brandon Nimmo made a spectacular catch crashing into the wall to rob Nola of extra bases and keep the deficit at 1-0.
That catch appears to have woken up the Mets’ offense, which finally broke through against Musgrove (L, 8-3) in the sixth. Starling Marte and Francisco Lindor got base hits ahead of Pete Alonso, who smashed a three-run homer (25) to left field to put the Mets in front. Luis Guillorme and Tomas Nido also drove in runs after Musgrove was knocked out, making it 5-1.
The Mets tacked on in the seventh with an RBI double from Alonso, making it 6-1. A throwing error from Manny Machado allowed two more runs to score, making it 8-1. Those runs would prove to be critical after David Peterson yielded a run in the eighth and Joely Rodriguez gave up three more in the ninth, forcing Buck Showalter to go to Edwin Diaz to slam the door on this one. Diaz got the job done, retiring the side in order to secure a key win for the Mets.
Player of the Game
Today’s Player of the Game award goes to New York Mets’ first baseman Pete Alonso. Alonso went 2 for 3 with two runs scored, a double, a home run and four RBIs with his three-run bomb in the sixth proving to be the sparkplug for the Mets’ struggling offense.
Post-Game Notes:
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Smith (W, 2-3) was the beneficiary of the Mets’ offensive explosion in the sixth inning to pick up the win in relief.
Daniel Vogelbach went 1 for 3 with a walk and a run scored in his Mets’ debut.
Marte, Lindor, Alonso and Canha each racked up two hits for the Mets.
The Padres won the season series with the Mets 4-2.
What’s Next:
The Mets are off tomorrow before beginning the first half of the 2022 Subway Series against the New York Yankees (66-31). Righty Taijuan Walker (7-2, 2.55 ERA) will face off with Yankees’ lefty Jordan Montgomery (3-2, 3.24 ERA) on the mound. First pitch for the opener of this two-game series is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. at Citi Field.
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