Inside The Mets

Mets' Comeback Falls Short as They Drop First Game in San Diego

The New York Mets fell behind 4-0 to the Padres, and were unable to comeback as they lost 4-3 in the first game of a four-game set.

Pat Ragazzo

The Streamable

After falling behind 4-0, the New York Mets' comeback fell short, as they dropped the first game of the series to the Padres by a score of 4-3.

The Mets' offense started off the night without an answer for Padres starter Yu Darvish, who stifled them through the first 4.2 innings.

In fact, Darvish did not allow a hit until the fifth when Mason Williams singled off the glove of Jake Cronenworth with two outs.

This set up their first real chance to do some damage against Darvish, as Jose Peraza followed up Williams' hit with a base knock of his own to put runners on the corners with two outs. 

With pitcher Taijuan Walker at 81 pitches on a night, where he didn't have his best stuff and had to battle through four innings, manager Luis Rojas opted to preserve his bullpen by letting Walker stay in to bat instead of going to a pinch hitter off the bench. As a result, Walker grounded out to end the threat.

After escaping two jams in the first two innings of the night, Walker issued a leadoff walk to Manny Machado to start the third. Two batters later, superstar shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. stepped to the plate and sent a shot to dead center for a two-run home run. While center fielder Mason Williams timed it perfectly to nearly rob Tatis Jr. of a homer, the ball bounced out of his glove and landed over the wall.

Unfortunately, Walker's struggles continued in the fourth, as he surrendered a double to Yu Darvish (2-for-2), which setup second-and-third with one out for the Padres. Center fielder Jurickson Profar would extend San Diego's lead to 3-0 with a RBI bloop single.

And in the fifth, things did not get much better. A throwing error by third baseman Brandon Drury prolonged the inning, before Walker surrendered another run on a ball in the dirt that got away from his catcher James McCann. 

Walker's outing was over after five innings. The right-hander gave up four runs (three earned), seven hits, four walks and struck out two on 104 pitches. Walker was not as sharp as usual on Thursday, as he worked with traffic on the base paths in every inning. 

Trailing 4-0 in the top of the sixth, the Mets' heart of the order continued their hot hitting, as Francisco Lindor laced a single to extend his hitting streak to six-games. And speaking of hot hitters, James McCann went deep for the second straight game for a two-run homer to cut the deficit in half.

Following the home run, Darvish hit Dom Smith with a pitch, which caused Padres manager Jayce Tingler to pull him after 5.1 innings on 90 pitches. 

The Mets loaded the bases against left-hander Tim Hill, which saw Rojas pinch hit Pete Alonso, who was getting an off night to rest his hand. And while bringing Alonso to the dish was certainly the right move given the way he has swung the bat lately, it did not pay off as he grounded into an inning ending double play to waste a huge scoring opportunity.

Fast forward to the top of the eighth, where Lindor led off the inning with a walk. After McCann and Smith failed to move him over, Billy McKinney knocked Lindor in with an RBI triple to cut the Padres' lead to 4-3. 

But Drury was unable to come through, as he grounded out to short to strand the tying run at third.

Padres closer Mark Melancon came on for the save chance in the ninth and surrendered a leadoff single to pinch hitter Tomas Nido. Peraza then walked to move the tying run into scoring position for Travis Blankenhorn, who grounded into a fielders choice. This saw the lead runner in Nido get tagged out between second-and-third base.

And this left things up to Kevin Pillar, who grounded into a game-ending double play, as the Mets' comeback ultimately fell short.

The Mets are now 27-22, and will look to get back in the win column with Joey Lucchesi taking the hill on Friday night against his former team.

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Pat Ragazzo
PAT RAGAZZO

Pat Ragazzo is the reporter, publisher, site manager and executive editor for Sports Illustrated's Mets and Yankees On SI websites. Pat was selected as The Top Reporter & Publisher of the Year 2024 by the International Association of Top Professionals (IAOTP) for outstanding leadership, dedication, and commitment to the industry. He has been seen on several major TV Network stations including: NBC4, CBS2, FOX5, PIX11 and NY1; and is frequently heard on ESPN New York FM 880 AM and WFAN Sports Radio 101.9 FM as a guest. Pat also serves as the Mets insider for the "Allow Me 2 Be Frank" podcast hosted by Frank "The Tank" Fleming of Barstool Sports. You can follow him on Twitter/X: @ragazzoreport.

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