Mets take rubber game from Padres 5-2 behind Lindor, Alonso homers

QUEENS — Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor each hit solo home runs to propel the Mets to a 5-2 win over the Padres in the Wednesday afternoon rubber game.

While the Mets were never able to put together a big inning, leaving nine runners stranded on the afternoon, they made the most of their big hits. While the Padres went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position the Mets collected three two-out RBIs, including Alonso’s home run, to scratch across enough runs to secure the win.

The afternoon got off to an inauspicious start as Mets’ starter Tylor Megill ran into trouble right from the jump. He walked the second hitter of the game, Manny Machado, before giving up a massive 456-foot home run to Juan Soto that left the bat at 109.2 mph and put the Padres up 2-0 in the blink of an eye.

However, Megill would settle down from there, retiring seven of the next eight batters he faced. He allowed two singles in the fourth inning but induced a soft flyout to get out of trouble and then worked around a two-out walk to get out of the fifth inning with yet another zero.

“Sometimes you get too finessy and every once and a while you just gotta get after it, and get down the hill; some you-know-what-and vinegar and just let it rip a little bit,” said Mets manager Buck Showalter about Megill’s turnaround. “Just get the gas pedal moving a little bit.”

Yet, with Megill pitching on just four days rest, Showalter made the decision to go to the bullpen rather than bring his starter back out in the 6th inning to face Soto and the heart of the order again. As a result, the right-hander finished the day with two earned runs allowed on three hits across five innings. He walked three and struck out three and, despite not allowing too much damage, clearly didn’t have his best swing-and-miss stuff.

Overall, he induced just six whiffs on 33 swings for an underwhelming 18% whiff rate. He was able to keep the Padres off the barrel of the bat, holding them to an average exit velocity of just 86.3 mph, which could be an important step forward for a young pitcher who has relied on velocity and pure stuff to succeed in the past.

“The third through the fifth I found my changeup and let that ride through the rest of my start,” said Megill after the game. “It helped me get ahead of those lefties, keep getting groundballs.”

Despite being lifted after five innings Megill left with a 3-2 lead as the Mets offense had little trouble getting to Padres’ starter Blake Snell.

After a Tommy Pham single in the bottom of the 2nd, Brandon Nimmo laced a ball into the gap in left-center field. Soto appeared to be camped under it, but when Trent Grisham came racing over from center, Soto ducked and the ball landed on the grass, knocking in Pham and allowing Nimmo to race into second for a double.

Nimmo finished 3-for-5 on the day with two RBIs and a stolen base, raising his batting average to .243 on the season.

“I was confident that it would turn around at some point,” said Nimmo after the game. “You just continue to put in the work each and every day and trust that, you know, the process is gonna work…I was glad to have a little bit of luck today and some hard-hit balls that found holes, and I was able to contribute to this win.”

In the bottom of the third, Lindor tied the game at two when he turned on a 1-1 fastball and crushed it 367 feet at 95.1 mph off the bat for his second home run of the year. Just two innings later, in the bottom of the 5th, it was Alonso’s turn, with the first baseman lacing a 2-0 fastball 112.2 mph 431 feet to left field to give the Mets a 3-2 lead they would never give back.

New York had an opportunity to break the game wide open in the 6th with Tomás Nido up and the bases loaded with nobody out. Instead, Nido grounded to third where Machado stepped on the bag and threw home for a double play.

Yet, Nimmo came up big for the team again, knocking a single between first and second to drive in Escobar and give the Mets an important insurance run. Pham would later knock in another with an RBI single in the 7th to give the team the breathing room they would need.

While the bullpen kept the Padres scoreless the rest of the way, it wasn’t always easy.

Drew Smith walked two hitters in the 7th which forced Showalter to go to erstwhile closer David Robertson to get Soto to fly out harmlessly to end the threat. Robertson himself allowed two singles in the 8th inning but was able to strike out Rougned Odor to squash another Padres’ scoring opportunity.

Adam Ottavino came on to close out the game in the 9th, and after walking Trent Grisham, he got Machado to ground the ball back up the middle for a game-ending 4-6-3 double play. It was Ottavino’s first save of the season.

The Mets were also effectively aggressive on the basepaths, going a perfect 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts on the day with Nimmo stealing in the first, Mark Canha swiping a bag in the 3rd, and Jeff McNeil taking another in the 6th. Padres’ catcher Austin Nola came into the game allowing the second-most stolen bases in baseball with 12 and would leave the game as the league leader with 15 stolen bases allowed.

“They’ve taken away holding the baseball,” explained Showalter. “That’s what stopped people from cheating the lead, so so many more people are in play now with stealing, especially when they throw over once. It’s a whole different dynamic.”

The Mets will now fly to Oakland to begin a 10-game west coast road trip and close out a grueling month of April that has seen them play just six of their first 22 games at home.

“We get a really good test with the west coast trip,” said Alonso after the game “but once we get our momentum going, I feel like we’re gonna be an even more scary ballclub.”