Padres Silence Mets' Win Streak With 5-2 Citi Field Win

Robbie Ray took the ball for San Diego carrying a 10-7 record and a 3.20 ERA, though his last time out was a no-decision against Milwaukee where he worked just 4 innings, walked 3 and struck out 4. Across town, rookie lefty Zac Thornton has quietly built a 3.04 ERA in his first taste of the majors, even after a loss to Atlanta in his prior start where he allowed 3 earned runs on 7 hits over 6 innings. Neither arm was untouchable coming in, which set up a game that had more to do with which lineup capitalized than which starter dominated.

San Diego's pitching staff has taken a beating this year — Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove and Lucas Giolito are all out of the rotation picture, and relievers Jason Adam and Bryan Hoeing are shelved too, which leaves the Padres leaning harder on whoever's healthy in high-leverage spots. The Mets have their own holes, with Juan Soto still working back from a calf issue and Mark Vientos nearing a rehab assignment rather than actually playing. Both injury boards were more about who's missing than who's playing hurt, and neither club had a fully loaded lineup on the field at Citi Field.

San Diego got on the board early and never let New York fully settle, plating a run in the 1st before the Mets managed anything. From there it was a game of answers: New York scratched a run back in the 5th, the Padres pushed 2 more across that same inning, and San Diego tacked on insurance in the 7th and 9th while the Mets could only add a run in the 8th.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
SD	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	1	5	10	1
NYM	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	6	1

The final line — 10 hits for San Diego against 6 for New York, with an error apiece — tells the story of a Padres offense that simply had more traffic on the bases all night. Spreading 5 runs across 4 different innings instead of leaning on one big rally is usually a sign of a lineup working good at-bats rather than getting hot, and that's exactly what buried a Mets team that had been riding one of its better stretches of the season.

For San Diego, this was a step back toward .500-and-climbing after dropping the series opener to these same Mets a day earlier — the Padres sit at 67-59 and just took 2 of 3 from Cleveland before this set. For New York, the 4-game winning streak that included a sweep of Washington is over, and the Mets remain a team fighting from below .500 at 57-69 even while flashing signs of life with arms like Thornton.

Neither club is playing for October at this point in the season, but nights like this matter for a Padres team trying to build separation in a crowded Wild Card picture and for a Mets club trying to figure out which young arms and everyday players are actually part of next year's core. San Diego got the version of this game it needed; New York will need Thornton and the rest of the staff to keep building on outings like his scoreless run earlier this year if the second half is going to mean anything.

San Diego Padres at New York Mets

Sources