The Mets lose to the Padres and that’s the way it San Diegoes

Following the feel-good story of Robinson Cano’s three home runs in Tuesday’s win, it only makes sense that the Mets would bring their fans back down to Earth like they did with their 7-2 loss to the Padres Wednesday night.

Right from the first inning of the game, things already looked rocky for Noah Syndergaard and the Mets. After a seven-pitch battle with Fernando Tatis Jr. that ended with a strikeout, Manuel Margot drew a walk and Manny Machado singled to put the Mets and Noah Syndergaard in a spot of trouble three batters into the night. Thankfully, Syndergaard’s reflexes live up to his nickname as he snagged a liner from Eric Hosmer and tossed it over to first to score a double play and end the threat just as it was getting started.

Keeping the energy flowing, the Mets jumped right out of the gate swinging with Jeff McNeil lacing a double to right and coming home a few moments later on Michael Conforto’s RBI single to make it a 1-0 game in the first. Pete Alonso then drew a walk against Dinelson Lamet and a mound visit was in order as the recently-returned righty looked like he might let this game get out of hand early. Something that pitching coach Darren Balsley said must’ve really clicked with Lamet as he set down Robinson Cano and Todd Frazier before allowing a single to Dominic Smith to load the bases. The Mets would not capitalize on this opportunity as Amed Rosario flew out to right field for the third out of the inning.

Much like the first inning, a walk and a single put two men on for the Padres, but this time they had three outs to work with. The Mets luckily induced a double play from Luis Urias, but one batter later Austin Hedges took a fastball approaching triple digits and sent it back up the middle to bring home Hunter Renfroe and bring the Padres back even with the Mets. With a Dinelson Lamet strikeout following Hedges, Syndergaard snuck his way out of another potential jam with minimal damage.

While the Mets went down quickly and easily their next time up, the Padres had different ideas in their half of the third. Syndergaard’s control continued to be a problem as he walked Manuel Margot and Manny Machado on nine pitches after striking out Tatis Jr. to start the frame. Margot stole third to put men on the corners for Eric Hosmer who lofted a sacrifice fly out to Jeff McNeil in right field to give the Padres a 2-1 advantage. The next batter, Hunter Renfroe, wasted no time lining a ball past a diving Rosario and into left field. This probably wouldn’t have scored a run, but the ball found its way past Dominic Smith’s glove letting Machado come home and having Renfroe take his spot on second base. Things only got worse as Franmil Reyes send a ball over Smith, rather than past him, to bring Renfroe home and land at second base with a double of his own to give to Padres a 4-1 lead.

As Syndergaard escaped the calamity of a third inning, Michael Conforto joined the double palooza and led off the next inning with one of his own. Advancing to third on a wild pitch, he came home two batters later on Cano’s run-scoring nubber down the first base line bringing the Mets within two runs.

Outside of a Fernando Tatis Jr. double in the fourth inning, Noah Syndergaard and the Padres tandem of Dinelson Lamet and Matt Strahm sent every batter back to the dugout in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. In the Padres’ half of the seventh inning, things got a bit dicey again.

Pinch hitter Ian Kinsler started things off with a single and Tatis Jr. quickly followed suit with a single of his own. Remarkably, Syndergaard was able to find his way out of another jam as he retired Margot and Machado before intentionally walking Eric Hosmer before retiring Hunter Renfroe to strand the bases loaded.

The seventh inning would be the last of Syndergaard’s night as he finished his night allowing four runs to the Padres with three of them being earned. In a baserunner-heavy outing, Syndergaard allowed eight hits and walked another five friars. On the bright side, he did manage to rack up eight strikeouts!

Much like the top half of the inning, the bottom half of the seventh came to and end with bases loaded and a powerful outfielder at the plate. Sandwiched between a pair of strikeouts, Amed Rosario doubled while J.D. Davis and Jeff McNeil drew back-to-back walks to give Michael Conforto a chance to break through with bases loaded and the Mets down by two. Unfortunately, the veteran Craig Stammen got Conforto to strike out swinging and ended the inning.

With the bullpen coming into the game, the Padres offense got back to work. First up was Jeurys Familia who walked Franmil Reyes to start things off, but was quickly erased when pinch runner Wil Myers was caught stealing. Just after that, Luis Urias walked and then came home on Austin Hedges’ double bouncing against the wall in center field. Francisco Mejia came to bat for Stammen and Luis Avilan came to pitch for Familia just before allowing a single to Mejia and immediately being pulled for Tyler Bashlor. Bashlor didn’t have much more going for him in the luck department as Tatis Jr. dropped a ball right in front of Dominic Smith to extend the Padres’ lead to 6-2. A double play from Manuel Margot was able to end the inning before things got any worse for the Mets’ bullpen.

In the ninth, the Padres added one more run with Stephen Nogosek coming into the game. A Manny Machado single and an Eric Hosmer double were followed up by a Hunter Renfroe sacrifice fly to give the Friars a five-run advantage heading into the bottom of the ninth. With Luis Perdomo in to close things out, Amed Rosario walked to produce the only baserunner of the inning before being cut down on a double play to end the game at 7-2.

The Mets are back in action early on Thursday as Jacob deGrom faces off against Eric Lauer at 12:10pm.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: None
Big losers: Noah Syndergaard -20.1% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -28.9% WPA,
Total batter WPA: -21.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Luis Urias’ second inning GIDP, +11.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Michael Conforto’s bases-loaded strikeout, -13.0% WPA