The San Diego Padres had a pitching mismatch in the rubber game of their series against the Mets, but to no avail.
The San Diego Padres had an ideal chance to get a series win against the New York Mets today, but they got just five hits against Mets starter Robert Stock and a crew of second-tier relievers to drop the series finale, 4-2, in a disappointing loss.
The Padres inability to hit was the story in this one as the Padres wasted a fine start by Michael King, who pitched into the seventh and gave up just two runs on four hits to go with a pair of walks and four strikeouts.
The Mets took the lead in the fourth on a walk to Bo Bichette by Padres starter Michael King, and Carson Benge followed up with a two-run homer to make it 2-0.
The Padres nicked Stock in the fifth to cut the lead in half on a pair of doubles by Xander Bogaerts and Fernando Tatis Jr. That made it 2-1, and the relievers took over for both teams and began stringing together zeroes.
San Diego gave the Mets a huge break in the eighth after a walk to A.J. Ewing and a single from Francisco Lindor, when a throwing error by shortstop Sun-Mung Song allowed Bichette to reach again, with Ewing coming home for the third run of the day. Jared Young singled to score Bichette and make it 4-1, but the Mets wound up needing those runs as Kodai Senga had his first adventure save.
The Padres were able to put two runners on via a single from Luis Rengifo and a walk to Luis Campusano, and pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets got a run home with a single. That made it 4-2, but Senga got Austin Hays to hit a ground ball up the middle that second baseman Marcus Semien turned into an 4-4-3 double play and end the game as the Padres failed to come up with the big hit.
This is one of those losses the Padres will likely remember going forward, as they had a chance to build on their strong play of late and bolster their wild card chances.
They maintain their current position in the standings ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and just behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the race for the second wild card, but this pitching matchup was a mismatch and the Padres really have no excuse for not doing better as they head home for a series against the Minnesota Twins starting Friday.
