Mets Lose a Close One, 4-3, in Series Opener With Padres

There are those who say, “west coast, best coast.”

Those people are not Mets fans.

New York played their third game in four days with a start time past 9:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, taking on the San Diego Padres for the first of four games in America’s Finest City. Taijuan Walker took to the hill for the Mets, but before he could do that, the road-tripping Mets had to face the arm of Yu Darvish.

Francisco Lindor, who came into Thursday night’s game with a five-game hitting streak, looked silly in his first at-bat against Darvish, who got the switch-hitter to a 2-2 count before firing his two-seamer across the plate for strike three. James McCann made the best contact of the first frame, grounding a ball down the third-base line. Unfortunately, Manny Machado was there to stop it, and he made a brilliant throw across the diamond for the out.

Walker got himself in a jam early on, allowing a leadoff hit to Jurickson Profar before walking the third man he faced to put two runners on with just one out. Facing Fernando Tatis Jr., the right-hander kept his composure, forcing the 22-year-old phenom to pop out in foul territory before retiring Wil Myers via a flyout to escape the inning unscathed.

The Mets went down quickly again in the second; the only baserunner was Brandon Drury, who drew a walk to become the Mets first baserunner of the evening. On the bright side, despite only having one baserunner through two frames, the Mets’ bats worked Darvish to 37 pitches.

Walker surrendered two more hits in the bottom half of the second, one of which off the bat of opposing pitcher Darvish. Walker again kept his composure, however, and escaped the inning without damage. The real worry was his pitch count, which was up to 39 after two frames. The Mets bullpen was taxed after having to throw 8.2 innings on Wednesday night, and the availability of many of the Mets regular relievers was in question.

After New York went down 1-2-3 in their half of the third, the Padres offense struck. With one out and one on in the bottom half of the frame, Tatis Jr. rocketed a high pitch into the center field night sky. Center fielder Mason Williams tracked the ball to the wall and leaped to attempt the catch, but the ball had other ideas; it bounced off his glove and over the wall for a two-run homer, giving the Padres a 2-0 lead.

The Mets remained hitless after four innings, going down in order once again in the latter of those four. Darvish, who was in pitch count trouble after two innings, recovered admirably and threw just 22 pitches throughout the third and fourth frames.

The Padres’ offensive unit kept rolling in the fourth. Victor Caratini drew San Diego’s third walk of the evening, and a Darvish double put two runners in scoring position with one out. Profar drove home Caratini on a bloop single to extend the Padres lead to 3-0 before Walker forced Machado to ground into an inning ending double play, limiting the damage.

Darvish, who is not generally known as an effective offensive player, has tormented the Mets with his bat over his career. He has two two-hit games in his career, both of which came against the orange and blue. His line against the Mets sits at 5-11 (.455), which is exponentially higher than his career batting average of .091.

Nevertheless, the Mets finally broke the hitless drought in the fifth, as Williams grounded a ball into the hole between first and second that bounced off the glove of Cronenworth and into shallow right field. Jose Peraza followed up with his own two out hit, a line drive single into the left-center field gap that moved Williams to third.

However, the Mets couldn’t cash in, and the Padres kept their shutout intact. Taijuan Walker worked a 2-2 count before grounding to Tatis at shortstop for the final out of the frame.

Cronenworth led off the bottom half of the fifth with a liner to shallow center, and he trotted towards first base expecting an easy base hit. Williams had other ideas, however, as he laid out and picked the ball out of the air for the first out of the inning.

Still, the Padres offense kept on, backed by the speedy legs of Tatis Jr. The 22-year-old legged out an infield single that Drury couldn’t handle at third base, and then advanced to second on a fielder’s choice that didn’t result in any outs. After a groundout advanced the runners to second and third, Tatis aggressively scored on a wild pitch, increasing the Padres lead to 4-0.

Taijuan Walker finally fired in his 104^th pitch of the night for strike three to Caratini, ending the inning, but the Mets’ bats had their work cut out for them if they wanted to get back into the game.

And work they did.

With one out in the sixth, Lindor extended his hit streak to six games with a liner to center. McCann followed up with a blast to left field that just got over the fence for a home run, cutting the Padres lead in half.

Dominic Smith then trotted to first after being hit in the foot, which proved to be the final straw for Darvish, who was taken out after 5.1 IP. The Padres opted to bring in lefty Tim Hill, whose violent sidearm windup is a frightening sight on the mound for many batters.

Billy McKinney was fearless, however, and worked a nice at-bat to get himself a free pass to first base as the tying run. Brandon Drury then fell into an 0-2 hole and grounded the third pitch he saw towards second that looked to be a routine inning ending double play. Tatis choose an inopportune time to register his 15^th error of the season, however, and dropped the throw to second, allowing all runners to advance to load the bases with one out.

Pete Alonso, who was scheduled for a day off, then picked up the bat to pinch hit in a critical situation. The Polar Bear was unfortunately in hibernation, however, as he grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Taijuan Walker was replaced by Jacob Barnes in the sixth after 5.0 IP. Barnes maximized his efficiency in the inning, throwing just eight pitches to get through the frame in order. He retook the mound in the seventh after a quick top half of the inning, and was equally as effective, allowing just one hit before retiring pinch-hitter Eric Hosmer to end the frame.

Lindor led off the eighth with a clutch at-bat, working a 3-2 count before drawing a walk against Emilio Pagan, who came on in relief to start the inning. Pagan was good to retire McCann and Smith, but McKinney got the best of him, skying a deep flyball off the wall in right field that drove home Lindor to bring the Mets within one run.

Aaron Loup appeared in relief to face the lower third of the San Diego batting order in the bottom half of the eighth, and was perfect, retiring the side in order.

The Mets then had one final chance in the ninth the tie it up, and they tried their best. Tomas Nido pinch hit to start the inning and hacked the first pitch he saw into right field for a base hit. Jose Peraza worked a walk to follow, bringing up Travis Blankenhorn with two runners on and nobody out.

Blankenhorn worked a 3-1 count before grounding a ball slowly to Manny Machado at third base. Machado opted to run and tag Nido out on the basepaths instead of turning two, giving the Mets a breath of hope with the top of the order coming up. That breath was quickly squashed, however, as Kevin Pillar grounded into a game-ending double play.

The Mets will take on San Diego again tomorrow, as Joey Lucchesi will take the mound for New York, facing off against Blake Snell of the Padres.