One Bad Pitch Sinks Peterson, Mets

Padres 7 Mets 4 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 78-74

Mets streak: Lost 1

Last 10: 2-8

WP - Adrian Morejon (12-5)

LP - David Peterson (9-6)

SV - Robert Suarez (39)

Seat on the Korner: Manny Machado

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

As Manny Machado goes, it seems, so go the Padres. When he faltered in August, the Padres slumped. Now that he has picked things up, the Padres are getting back on track. Machado's grand slam (see below), the 14th of his career, was not only the turning point of the game, it was his third homer in the last four games. But as he sits down to chat with Ralph, we'd also like to hear his version of what happened on that play when Elias Diaz slowed down and didn't touch home before Luis Arraez was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.

Need to Know

• The loss dropped the Mets' home record to 44-30.

• Scoreboard watching: The Reds beat the Cardinals, 6-2 and the Giants beat the Diamondbacks, 5-1, in a game that was scoreless into the 11th inning, Brandon Pfaadt of the Diamondbacks pitched nine innings of one-hit shutout ball. So the loss cut the Mets' wild card lead to a game and a half over Arizona and two over the Reds and Giants.

• In the lineups were the only three players with 100+ runs scored, 20+ home runs and 30+ stolen bases: Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres and the Mets' Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto. .

• Francisco Lindor extended his hitting streak to six games (7-23, six runs, one double, one homer, one RBI, four walks. That's a .304 batting average over that span, if you do the math.)

• Brett Baty continued his hot hitting, with two singles and a double, following his home run Tuesday night. Since August 2, Baty is hitting .339 (37-109), with six home runs, four doubles, 13 RBI.

• Juan Soto hit his 41st home run of the season -- equaling his total with the Yankees last year and setting his career high-- and nearly hit his 42nd to tie the game in the seventh. It missed hitting the left field foul pole by inches. Starling Marte, Pete Alonso and Francisco Alvarez also homered.

• Before the game, the Mets activated Luis Torrens and sent Hayden Senger back to Syracuse, just in time for the IL (that's International League, not Injured List) playoffs.

• When he took the mound for his major league debut, Dom Hamel became the Mets' 46th pitcher, a major league record. Hamel is the ninth Met to make his major league debut this year, eight of them pitchers. Senger is the only position player.

• Two curious moves by manager Carlos Mendoza: bringing in Ryne Stanek for the ninth instead of Edwin Diaz and having Mark Vientos pinch hit for Cedric Mullins in the bottom of the inning. Even if Stanek hadn't given up a home run to pad the Padres' lead, if the Mets has tied the game and sent it into extra innings, Diaz would have started the 10th cold, with a man on second, not optimal for him. And Vientos versus Mullins? A home run there would not have tied the game. Mullins homered the night before, and with his speed was less likely to be a double play ball victim than Vientos.

• The series concludes with a matinee Thursday. If this were August and it was a day camp day at Citi Field, you'd say the Mets are sending the perfect pitcher to the mound -- the one who looks like he was pulled from the 92nd Street Y bus to make the start. But it's September, so Jonah Tong will get the ball and try to regain his confidence with only adults in the stands. Randy Vasquez gets the start for the Padres.

  
  

Turning Point

David Peterson was laboring his way through his start, falling victim to soft hits that saw the Padres plate runs in the first and second innings, and the fifth started out like another one of those frames. Peterson hit Jake Cronenworth with a pitch. He was advanced to second by an Elias Diaz sacrifice. Peterson walked Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez bunted to the third base side to load the bases with one out and without the ball having left the infield. Up stepped Manny Machado, a professional, veteran hitter who didn't bite at three successive Peterson changeups. A foul ball worked the count full. Peterson threw Machado a curve that Machado hit to the Great Wall of Flushing. It was the first grand slam Peterson had allowed in his career, and it certainly was an inopportune one, turning a 2-2 game into a 6-2 one.

Three Keys

A Lesson in What A Good Bullpen Does

The Padres have the best bullpen in baseball, and it was on display in this game. After the Mets knocked out Padres' pseudo-ace Nick Pavetta in the fifth, Adrian Morejon, Mason Miller and Robert Suarez held the Mets scoreless, sandwiched around Jeremiah Estrada yielding a video review-called home run to Francisco Alvarez. The Mets threatened in both the seventh and the ninth, but the Padres' pen did not break (although Juan Soto almost changed that with a shot up the middle -- Suarez' middle, that is -- to end the game). It's what winning clubs' bullpens do, unlike the Mets' over the past two months.

Hel, yes?

On a night that turned on one bad pitch, three Mets relievers did their jobs, keeping the Mets in the game so they could try to crawl back. Dom Hamel in his major league debut, Gregory Soto looking as if he has righted his ship and... Ryan Helsley pitching a scoreless inning, highlighted by only the second pickoff of his career, after putting Fernando Tatis Jr. on base with a walk. It's the type of bullpen performance the Mets were hoping for after acquiring Soto and Helsley, and even though it was in a loss, it's what they need over the final 10 games if they want to stay in the wild card race. But then, Ryne Stanek came in for the ninth. Stanek also appeared to have righted his ship -- eight of his previous 10 appearances had been scoreless -- and he appeared to be keeping the line moving with two quick outs. But then he surrendered a home run to Ramon Laureano -- just when the Mets could afford it the least --giving the Padres a three-run cushion.

You Gotta Keep Running

Juan Soto not only hit a homer to produce a run for the Mets, his arm helped prevent one, thanks to either Manny Machado's mixed signal or Elias Diaz taking it for granted that Luiz Arraez had hit a two-out double in the top of the sixth. Diaz, on second, rounded third at full speed but hit the brakes just as he approached home plate. Soto fielded the ball cleanly and fired quickly to second, Francisco Lindor applied the tag before Diaz; foot could touch home plate. Replays made it unclear whether Diaz saw Machado wave him to ease up or whether he did it on his own, but it was Soto's eighth outfield assist of the season and an inning ended without San diego scoring. Kudos to home plate umpire Chris Segal for noticing.