The San Diego Padres have won two games so far in a three-game series against the New York Mets.
The Mets had a 58-35 record coming into the series, and they were in first place in the National League East division. They still hold first place in the division, but the Atlanta Braves are creeping up on the Mets. The Braves are now only one game behind the division-leading Mets, thanks to the Padres.
The first game of the series was a solid win for the Padres. Starting pitcher Yu Darvish pitched in seven innings and gave up only one run on four hits. The only run Darvish gave up was an RBI double by Mets second baseman Luis Guillorme in the bottom of the seventh inning. He also threw for nine strikeouts and gave up only one walk. Darvish has been successful against the Mets throughout his career. He now has a 5-0 record with a 2.56 ERA in eight career starts against the Mets.Â
The bullpen was solid in relief of Darvish. Relief pitchers Nick Martinez and Taylor Rogers each pitched a shutout inning to close out the game. In fact, both pitchers were perfect and did not give up a hit or a walk.
The bulk of the Padres runs scored were by home runs from first baseman Eric Hosmer and center fielder Trent Grisham.
Hosmer hit a two-run home run in the top of the fourth inning. Grisham hit a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning. This was Hosmer’s seventh home run of the season, and it was Grisham’s 10th home run of the season. The Padres went on to win the game 4-1.
The second game of the series was close throughout. It got even closer in the bottom of the ninth inning. Starting pitcher Blake Snell had a solid outing. Snell pitched in five innings and did not give up a single run. He gave up four hits and a walk, and he struck out five Mets hitters.
The Padres offense struggled for most of the game. The Padres lineup struck out 15 times, with 12 of the 15 strikeouts coming from the top five batters in the lineup. No runs were scored in the game until the top of the sixth inning. Third baseman Manny Machado hit a two-run home run to give the Padres a 2-0 lead. This score remained the same until the bottom of the ninth inning.
Closing pitcher Taylor Rogers came into the game in the bottom of the ninth inning to try and close out the game.
It was rough at first, as he gave up two hits, two walks and a run. Luckily, he was able to finish the game without blowing the save. The Padres won this game 2-1.
The Padres are now 54-42 after these two games. The team is well behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West division lead. The Padres are behind the Dodgers by 11 games, mainly due to a current eight-game win streak by the Dodgers. However, the Padres are still the second-place NL Wild Card team.
The Padres have been all over trade rumors over the last couple of weeks. There has been discussion about the Padres potentially trading for Nationals outfielder Juan Soto. Now, there is a discussion about the Padres possibly acquiring Catcher Willson Contreras and outfielder Ian Happ from the Chicago Cubs.
The next series for the Padres will be in Detroit to take on the Tigers.