It was the battle of the Cy-Young Award Winners at Citi Field on Friday night as Blake Snell and the Padres came to New York to take Jacob deGrom and the Mets.

DeGrom was strong in the opening inning of the game. He collected two strike outs and pop out to retire the Padres in order.

As the Mets came to the plate in the bottom of the first, Jonathan Villar led off with a lead-off single to open the inning, but the Mets wouldn’t produce on it as Francisco Lindor grounded into a double play followed by a James McCann strikeout.

DeGrom stayed perfect in the second retiring the Padres one, two, three and collecting his third strikeout of the night. Snell would answer in the bottom half of the second, collecting two strikeouts and a fly out. He would also have three strikeouts through two innings.

As the game head to the third, the game remained a pitcher’s dual. DeGrom collected two more strikeouts (five on the night) in the top of the third, and Blake Snell would collect his fourth strikeout of the night in a routine one, two, three inning in the bottom half of the third.

DeGrom rolled through the fourth inning, striking out the side to reach eight strikeouts.

The Mets tried to get rolling in the fourth and it started with a lead-off single by Villar on a line drive to left field. It was his second hit of the night, and his second lead-off hit of the night. He followed his lead-off single with a stolen base (7 on the season). Lindor would then fly out to left field before Snell walked McCannn and Alonso. The Mets would leave two stranded in the fourth as Dominic Smith grounded into a routine double play to end the inning.

DeGrom had a shaky fifth inning. He started the inning with a ground out to Manny Machado, but then allowed a single to Will Myers to right field. Myers was then caught stealing by McCann and deGrom got out of the inning with a pop out of Jurickson Profar to end the inning.

The game was tied 0-0 through four and a half innings before the Mets opened the scoring in the bottom half of the fifth. The inning was kicked off with a double by Kevin Pillar to left field. He was followed up by an RBI double by Billy McKinney that scored Pillar and gave the Mets a 1-0 lead over the Padres to break the tied game.

After McKinney’s RBI double, Jose Peraza walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. A balk by Snell advanced McKinney to third and Peraza to second. And then leave it to the goat! DeGrom came to the plate with two runners on and hit a two-RBI single to left field to give the Mets a 3-0 lead over the Padres.

With the Mets now up 3-0, that would end Snell’s night as the Mets would force the Padres to go to their bullpen. It would be Austin Adams replacing Blake Snell on the mound for the Padres in the fifth.

Adams came in and quickly got two outs with a fly out of Villar and lineout of Lindor. A passed ball by catcher Victor Caratini then allowed deGrom to advance to second. McCann was then nailed by a pitch. The Mets would leave McCann and deGrom on the bases with Pete Alonso grounding out to end the inning.

DeGrom stayed strong in the sixth and continued to sail. He retired the side in order and collected two more strikeouts to bring his strikeout count to 10 on the night.

Jake departed after six innings with right flexor tendonitis. He spoke at length after the game about the injury and stated that he has worked with flexor problems before including this week. He added that no treatment or imaging is required between starts only a doctor examination. DeGrom seemed confident he would make his next start, stating on SNY, “I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be something that we can treat and hopefully not miss any time.”

Craig Stammen replaced Adams on the mound for the Padres in the sixth. He would get two quick ouuts with a ground out of Smith a line out by Pillar. He gave up a double to McKinney who would get his second hit of the night, but then a fly out of Peraza ended the inning.

Miguel Castro replaced deGrom on the mound in the seventh. It was later announced that he left the game due to right flexor tendinitis.

DeGrom’s final line: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 SO, 0.56 ERA.

Castro would struggle in his first inning of work. He started his outing with a strikeout of Tommy Pham, but then allowed a double to Fernando Tatis Jr., followed by a two-run home run to Jake Croneworth to bring the Padres within one run of the Mets. It was now 3-2 Mets.

Castro would walk Machado before being replaced on the mound by Seth Lugo. It was later reported that Castro exited the game with a stiff neck as the Mets’ injury worries continued with back to back pitchers exiting with injury. Lugo collected the final two outs of the inning with a strikeout of Wil Myers and a line out of Profar.

As we headed to the bottom of the seventh, Luis Guillorme pinch-hit for Lugo. Stammen however would retire the side in order with a groundout to Guillorme and striking out Villar and Lindor.

Aaron Loupe replaced Seth Lugo on the mound for the Mets in the eighth. He allowed a lead-off single to Ha-Seong Kim before striking out Caratini. He would then ground out Mateo for the second out of the inning before exiting the game.

The Mets would bring in their closer Edwin Diaz to get the final four outs of the night. He forced Pham to fly out to end the eighth.

Pierce Johnson replaced Craig Stammen on the mound for the Padres in the bottom half of the inning and pitched a solid inning. He allowed a lead-off single to McCann before striking out Alonso and forcing Smith into a double play to end the inning.

Edwin Diaz came back out to close it out for the Mets in the ninth. He got two quick strikeouts of Tatis Jr. and Croneworth. After a line drive single by Machado, Hosmer popped out to end the inning and the game as the Mets went on to defeat the Padres 3-2 to take game one of the series.

It was deGrom (6-2, 0.56 ERA) getting the win for the Mets, Snell (2-3, 4.97 ERA) with the loss for the Padres, and Diaz (11) with the save for the Mets.

The Mets and Padres continue their series Saturday evening at 4:10 PM at Citi Field in New York. It will be Joe Musgrove who threw a no hitter earlier this season for the Padres against Marcus Stroman on the mound for the Mets in what expects to be another great pitcher’s dual in New York.