Mets beat Padres for another series win as they ‘create a little excitement’
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If only their season began at the trade deadline.
One day it’s the bats carrying the Mets and another it’s a starting pitcher or the rebuilt bullpen. It’s created at least something of a murmur for a team buried in the postseason race.
“I think it’s fun for the fans, right?” Mets owner Steve Cohen said before his team’s 4-2 victory over the Padres at Citi Field on Wednesday. “It’s creating a little excitement and hopefully it will carry through to the end of the year and give us good feeling into next year.”
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This series victory was the fourth in five the Mets have played since the Aug. 3 deadline. Overall, the Mets are 11-4 over that stretch. Even so, the improved play hasn’t produced dramatic headway in the NL wild-card race, where the Mets are 10 games behind for the final spot. The Mets were 13 games behind before starting this surge.
Such is life trying to climb over seven teams, including these Padres, who are positioned for the NL’s third wild card.
“It feels gritty to me,” interim manager Andy Green said. “It feels like the kind of club that is trying to scratch and claw and figure out a way to win a baseball game.”
A bullpen that lost four key veterans at the trade deadline — then closer Devin Williams to the injured list — has led the charge. On this day, Jonathan Pintaro, Nate Lavender, Austin Warren and Daniel Duarte combined for 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings before Kodai Senga surrendered a run in the ninth.
“The bullpen has been phenomenal with this much turnover, to see guys step on the mound and handle tough situations again and again,” Green said. “Pintaro getting a double play ball, and Lavender coming in again with an inherited runner and getting out of it on nine pitches, which is more than he’s been throwing to get out of innings, which is crazy.”
Robert Stock gave the Mets a second straight effective abbreviated start, allowing one earned run on two hits and three walks with six strikeouts over 4 ¹/₃ innings. In his previous start, against the Nationals, the right-hander did not allow an earned run over the same length.
The Mets have entrusted a rotation spot to the 36-year-old journeyman following the trades that jettisoned Freddy Peralta and Clay Holmes.
“Hopefully, I am improving,” said Stock, who underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in spring training. “The difference between Triple-A and the big leagues is very big. It’s a different strategy. Such incredible hitters that you have to figure out things along the way and constantly make improvements, and that is something I’m continuing to try to do.”
Carson Benge’s two-run homer in the fourth produced the game’s first scoring. Benge hit a shot just inside the left field foul pole for his 11th homer this season and second within the week.
Nobody had a better homestand than Benge, who threw out four base runners from right field over a three-game stretch. The highlight was Monday, when he nailed two runners at the plate in the same inning, becoming the first outfielder in franchise history to accomplish that feat.
“I feel like I’m in a good spot,” Benge said. “I feel like I am on time with just about every pitch, seeing the ball well. It’s a good place to be.”
Fernando Tatis stroked an RBI double in the fifth that sliced the Mets lead to 2-1. Xander Bogaerts doubled against Stock to begin the rally. Stock was removed after Tatis’ double.
The Mets added insurance in the eighth. Bo Bichette grounded into an RBI fielder’s choice and Jared Young’s single increased the lead to 4-1.
Senga allowed one run in the ninth but earned his fourth save in as many chances since moving into the closer’s role with Williams on the IL.
“I think there’s a lot of things to kind of be excited by,” Cohen said. “The development of our young players is significant. That creates a nice foundation for next year.”