The New York Mets (19-24) defeated the San Diego Padres (16-31) by a score of 9-3 at Citi Field Tuesday evening.
Pitching:
Matt Harvey was on the mound for the Mets tonight and he struggled a bit. He was able to battle his way through five innings but his mechanics just looked off. All in all, Harvey went five innings allowing two runs while walking four and striking out six.
In the top of the second inning, Ryan Schimpf started the inning with a lead-off walk. Hunter Renfroe followed with a double to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Cory Spangenberg and Austin Hedges each grounded out but they were productive outs scoring both runners and putting two runs on the board for the Padres.
Josh Smoker came on for the Mets in the top of the sixth inning and gave up a leadoff home run on the first pitch to Ryan Schimpf.
Paul Sewald was able to pitch a scoreless inning in the seventh. Jerry Blevins and Fernando Salas were able to combine to pitch a scoreless top of the eighth. Salas stayed in and pitched another scoreless frame to preserve the win in the ninth.
Offense:
The Mets hitters wasted little time tonight. The Mets batted around in the bottom of the first inning putting seven runs on the board. Michael Conforto lead off the game with his 12th home run of the season. Jose Reyes, Jay Bruce, and Neil Walker all followed with singles. After Curtis Granderson followed with a sacrifice fly, Wilmer Flores singled to give the Mets the early 3-0 lead. Lucas Duda followed with a gapper that scored two more to give the Mets a 5-0 lead.
The Met weren’t done yet. Rene Rivera singled, Matt Harvey sacrificed him over, and Conforto capped the inning off with another single two bring both runners in to give the Mets a 7-0 lead in the first and knock Jhoulys Chacin from the game.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Michael Conforto tacked on with his 13th home run of the season.
Lucas Duda was able to cash in with an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh inning by lacing a single into right field with runners on base giving the Mets their 9th run of the game.
Notes:
Jay Bruce had to come out of the game in the sixth inning with back tightness.
Lucas Duda had a nice night going 3-4 with a double, three RBI and a run.
Jerry Blevins made his major league leading 26th appearance tonight.
JZ Player of the game: Michael Conforto. The kid is on fire. 3-4 with a hit by pitch, 2 home runs, and 4 RBI
On Deck:
The Mets will play their second game of a three-game set with the San Diego Padres at Citi Field tomorrow evening. The game has a start time of 7:10 PM. Robert Gsellman (2-3, 6.75 ERA), will look to get his season on track and keep the Mets rolling against Jarred Cosart (0-1, 2.70 ERA).
