Mets Nearly No-Hit in 7-0 Loss to Padres

The Mets were nearly no-hit Tuesday night as they fell 7-0 to the Padres.

Right-handed pitcher Taijuan Walker got the ball for the Mets Tuesday against right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish for the home Padres.

The first two innings of Tuesday’s game were wild and produced some fireworks. Of the first five batters the Mets sent to the plate, three were hit by a pitch, including Pete Alonso who ended up leaving the game after being hit on the hand.

Brandon Nimmo led off the top of the first for the Mets against Darvish and he was immediately hit by a pitch to put the leadoff runner on for the Mets. Darvish retired the next two batters he faced and caught Marte stealing to get out of the inning, but not before tensions were immediately sparked between the two teams.

The Padres immediately took a lead over the Mets in the bottom of the first as Jurickson Profar hit his seventh home run of the season, a solo home run to put the Padres on top of the Mets 1-0 in the first. Walker retired the next three batters he faced to retire the side, but not before the Padres struck first.

More fireworks were lit in the top of the second. Alonso was the second Met to be struck by a pitch and he could be heard on the broadcast wincing in pain. After being evaluated by the medical team and manager Buck Showalter, Alonso left the game and was pinch-run for with J.D. Davis, who stayed in to play first for the Mets.

Immediately after Alonso was hit, Jeff McNeil was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. Darvish struck out the next three he faced to get out of the inning though as the Mets left two runners stranded.

As the game headed into the bottom of the second inning, Mets right fielder Starling Marte left the game with right quad tightness resulting from his first inning slide that ended the inning.

The injuries to Alonso and Marte appeared to knock the wind out of the Mets’ sails as they just appeared to come out very flat on offense, getting just two hits all night.

The Padres struck for three more runs in the second. The inning started with back-to-back singles by Eric Hosmer and Nomar Mozara to put two on with no outs for the Padres. Ha-seong Kim then grounded into a force out to second, but the runners advanced 45 feet to second and third respectively. Trent Grisham singled to right field to score Hosmer and extend the Padres’ lead to 2-0 over the Mets.

After striking out Austin Nola, Walker walked Profar to put another runner on. Profar’s walk was followed by a two-RBI single by Jake Cronenworth that scored Mozara and Grisham to extend the Padres’ lead again to 4-0 over the Mets. Walker then struck out Machado to end the inning.

Darvish and Walker both settled in in the third as they retired their respective sides in order in the third and fourth innings. Through four innings Walker had retired seven in a row while Darvish had retired nine in a row.

Darvish continued to pitch well in the fifth as the Mets went down in order and Darvish retired twelve in a row.

Walker gave up a walk to Profar and a hit to Manny Machado in the fifth inning, but he retired the next three batters he faced to get out of the innings without further damage being done.

The Mets finally broke through Darvish and got their first hit of the night in the top of the sixth. Mark Cahna hit a one-handed single to left field to break-up the no-hitter.

Walker came back out to pitch the sixth and retired the Padres in order to keep the score 4-0 through six innings.

Darvish continued to pitch well in the seventh despite the sixth inning hit by Cahna. He gave up a two-out double to Eduardo Escobar but retired the other three batters he faced, including Luis Guillorme who lined out to leave Escobar stranded. Darvish was through seven scoreless innings after the lineout of Guillorme.

Colin Holderman came in to replace Walker on the mound for the Mets in the bottom of the seventh.

Walker’s final line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR. His ERA is 3.28.

Holderman didn’t last long in the seventh. He walked the bases loaded and then gave up a two-RBI double to Machado as the Padres extended their lead to 6-0 over the Mets. Luke Voit then hit a sacrifice fly to extend the Padres’ lead further to 7-0 to knock out Holderman as the clock struck midnight on the East Coast. Chasen Shreve came in to throw the rest of the inning. He gave up one walk but retired the other two batters he faced to retire the side.

Adrian Morejon came in to pitch the eighth for the Padres, replacing Darvish who had a lights-out performance.

Darvish’s final line was7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 SO, 0 HR, 3.61 ERA

Morejon retired the Mets in order in the eighth and Shreve answered and retired the Padres in order in the eighth as well.

The Mets were down to their final chance in the ninth. Morejon came back out to pitch the ninth for the Padres.

The Mets once again went down in order in the ninth as the Padres won it 7-0 to shutout the Mets. This was just the second time the Mets have been shutout this season.

Darvis (5-3) was credited with the win. Walker (3-2) took the loss as the Padres improve to 34-22 and the Mets fall to 38-20 on the season.

The Mets and Padres conclude their series Wednesday night with a winner-takes all rubber match. Chris Bassitt will be on the mound for the Mets as they look to bounce back and take the series from the Padres.