Mets, Powered By Pete & Lindor, Take Series From Padres

 

Pete Alonso celebrating his home run with Mark Canha, as Padres pitcher Blake Snell looks out to the giant videoboard in center field to see the replay. Photo by Jason Schott. 

The Mets, backed by home runs from Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor, and a solid start from Tylor Megill, beat the San Diego Padres, 5-2, on Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field. 

With the win, the Mets took two of three games from San Diego, and four of six on the homestand, and that leaves them with a 7-6 record as they embark on a 10-game west coast trip, with three at the Oakland A's, three at the Los Angeles Dodgers, and four in San Francisco against the Giants.

San Diego started the day with a blast, literally, as Juan Soto launched a two-run home run to the Shea Bridge over the bullpens in right field in the top of the first. This was Soto's third homer of the season, and his sixth and seventh RBIs.

Juan Soto points to the sky after crossing the plate on his home run. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Mets had a golden chance in the bottom of the first against San Diego's Blake Snell. Brandon Nimmo led off with a single, Starling Marte walked, and Alonso got a one-out single, but Snell got Mark Canha to pop out to first and Jeff McNeil to ground out to shortstop.

They would get on the board in the second, as Tommy Pham, who was the designated hitter in this one, singled, and then stole second base, which made it easy to score when Nimmo blasted a two-run double over Soto's head in left field. That made it 2-1 San Diego, and Soto was done in by the sun, and the fact that Trent Grisham came right up to him to try and catch it, which made Soto hesitate and take his eye off the ball.

In the third, Lindor launched one to left field for his second homer of the season, and that tied it at 2. It also gave the Mets' shortstop eight RBI on the season.

Francisco Lindor waves to the crowd approaching the Mets dugout after his home run. Photo by Jason Schott.

Megill sailed through the second and third innings, but he ran into trouble in the fourth when he allowed singles to Xander Bogaerts and ex-Yankee Matt Carpenter, and got out of it when he got Austin Nola to fly out to left.

Snell retired the Mets in order in the fourth and then retired the first two in the fifth before Alonso erupted with a bomb to left field for a solo shot to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.

This was Alonso's sixth home run of the season (hmmm, 6 home runs in 13 team games, too early to start tracking him against Barry Bonds' record of 73 HR in 2001?)

This came just in time for Megill, who just completed five innings, in which he allowed just those two runs (the Soto homer) on three hits and three walks, with three strikeouts, and he earned his third win of the season. He's now 3-0 with a 2.25 earned run average (ERA).

The Mets turned to the bullpen in the sixth inning, as left-hander Brooks Raley came on, and he allowed a double to Soto and a hit-by-pitch to Jake Cronenworth before he retired Carpenter with a fly out to left for the second out of the inning.

Drew Smith came on, and struck out Nola to end the sixth, and the Mets took that momentum in to the bottom half, when Nimmo got an RBI single to make it 4-2.

In the top of the seventh, Smith walked ex-Yankees Rougned Odor and Grisham before he got Manny Machado to fly out to center field for the second out. In came David Robertson for Soto, and he got him to hit a lazy fly ball to left field to end the frame.

The Mets, once again, took that mojo into the bottom half against San Diego reliever Brent Honeywell, as Alonso drew a walk and raced home on a Pham RBI single, and that made it 5-2.

Robertson stayed on to pitch the eighth, and he worked around a couple hits with a pair of strikeouts. 

Adam Ottavino came on for the ninth, and he got Luis Campusano to fly out to left field, then walked Grisham before he got Machado to bounce into a double play to end it. This was the first save of the season for the Brooklyn native.