The New York Mets lost the final game of their six game road trip, 3-2, to the San Diego Padres. (box score)

The Mets finished their sojourn to Milwaukee and San Diego with a 1-5 record dropping their overall record to 17-20. They are off tomorrow before beginning a micro-home stand of only three games against the Miami Marlins.

New York is now 0-4 in rubber games this year and 1-5-1 in their last seven series. They took a 2-0 lead in this affair but could not hold it losing to the resurgent Padres.

Wilmer Font made his first start for the Mets, and the sixth start of his Major League career. He was placed on the roster on Tuesday after being acquired from Tampa Bay. The Mets are the sixth team for which Font has pitched and he was largely effective, going four innings while allowing two earned runs.

Pitching

Wilmer Font made his  Mets debut in today’s game. He was effective in the first inning as he threw just ten pitches to retire the Padres. He was helped out by a terrific catch by Brandon Nimmo off the bat of Manny Machado.

In the second inning, Eric Hosmer led off with a solo homer just over the out-stretched glove of Jeff McNeil. It was Hosmer’s sixth home run of the year to cut the Mets lead at the time to 2-1.

The Padres tied the game at two in the third frame. Padres’ pitcher Matt Strahm stroked a double to right-center. It was the third lifetime hit for Stahm. With two outs, Franmil Reyes hit a fly ball single to left that fell between three Mets defenders. The hit scored Strahm to tie the game.

The fourth inning was another effective one for Font as he induced three ground outs in a 1-2-3 inning. Mets manager Mickey Callaway decided that four innings and 60 pitches were enough for Font and he was pinch hit for in the bottom of the fifth.

Font’s final line was four innings pitched, two earned runs, three hits, no walks, one strikeout and one home run allowed. He topped out at 96-mph on his fastball. It was an effective outing for Font as though there were some hard hit balls against him, his defense behind him was solid except perhaps the non-catch on the pop-up single by Reyes that scored the second Padres run.

Robert Gsellman came in to pitch next, and he pitched and effective two innings. At one point he struck out three consecutive Padres batters while only allowing a single to Machado.

Tyler Bashlor was the third Mets pitcher as he entered the game in the seventh. The first batter he faced was the red-hot Hunter Renfroe. Renfroe deposited a Bashlor offering to deep center field, a long, high homer to give the Padres a 3-2 lead. It was the ninth home run of the year for the Padres slugger and the third in his last four games.

Drew Gagnon pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth.

Offense

The Mets managed seven hits against San Diego this afternoon.

New York scored two batters into the game thanks in large part to the hustle of lead-off  batter Jeff McNeil. McNeil hit a broken back grounder that found a hole that he legged into a double. He was promptly driven in by the next batter, Amed Rosario, who singled to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

In the second inning, Tomas Nido, making his fifth start of the year, clubbed a solo home run to center to give the Mets a 2-0 lead at the time. It was Nido’s second big league homer. Interesting note about the Mets’ catcher is the homer was his third hit of the year, each of which has resulted in an RBI.

The Mets bats were largely quiet until the seventh inning when they had a great chance to score. Michael Conforto walked to begin the frame. It was the first walk allowed by Padres starting pitcher Matt Stahm in four games, spanning 122 straight batters. Conforto then stole second.

After a long at-bat, Brandon Nimmo hit a double to dead center to put runners on second and third. Gerardo Reyes came in to pitch for San Diego and proceeded to strike out Tomas Nido and Todd Frazier and the Mets stranded two in scoring position.

The Padres closer, Kirby Yates, came in to try to finish the game. He has been perfect in save opportunities this year. He struck out Pete Alonso and Conforto. J.D. Davis singled to center to give the Mets some life. He went to second on a wild pitch by Yates. Nimmo walked to put runners on first and second. But Nido struck out to end the ballgame.

McNeil and Nido were the only two Mets to get more than one hit in the game. They had two each.

On Deck

The Mets have an off-day Thursday before beginning a brief three game home stand against the Miami Marlins over the weekend. Zack Wheeler (2-2, 4.64 ERA) makes the start for New York. Wheeler’s 1.89 career ERA against the Marlins is the sixth best all-time. He owns the best opponent OPS (.503) against Miami.

Pablo Lopez (2-4, 4.03 ERA) goes for the Fish. Last out he pitched six shutout innings in a no-decision against the Atlanta Braves. His has a 0.50 ERA against opponents first time through the lineup but that balloons to an 8.10 ERA the third time through.

The game will be televised on SNY and broadcast on 880-WCBS. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM.