The Padres beat the Mets in a 2022 Wild Card series. Then both teams made splashy, high-priced off-season additions to put them near the top of just about everyone's list of 2023 World Series contenders. When the schedule showed them getting together in the final series before the All-Star break it was almost a foregone conclusion the 3-game set would be a battle of teams very likely to see each other again in October.
Baseball is a funny game.
Both high-priced clubs started the series 41-46 and 6.5 games out of a Wild Card spot. The loser of this series is likely going to be in for some very tough decisions as the trade deadline rapidly approaches. The Mets drew first blood with a 7-5, extra innings win in front of another sellout crowd of 42,712 at Petco Park, running their winning streak to six games and stifling any momentum San Diego had from their sweep of the Angels.
Speaking of running, it was a bad decision on the bases that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory (an explanation of that in a moment).
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Yu Darvish, who missed more than a week battling the flu, was back on the mound for the Friars and not terribly sharp. Darvish only went 5.0 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with an uncharacteristic three walks and a hit batter. On the other side was another veteran righty you may have heard of.
Justin Verlander, at the age of 40, is simply not the same pitcher he used to be. While he used to hit 100 MPH consistently his fastball on Friday night sat around 94. So, he now relies on a pretty good slider and curve to get by. Verlander allowed three runs and only struck out a pair in 6.0 innings of work. So, this game would be decided by the bullpens.
In the 7th inning Ha-Seong Kim hit a bullet down the left field line. It was an easy double. When Kim saw former Padre Tommy Pham taking his time getting the ball in he tried to stretch it into a triple. That was not wise. Pham threw him out on a close play, which really hurt because Kim was already in scoring position and would have walked home when Juan Soto followed with a double of his own.
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In the 9th inning Nick Martinez put himself in trouble. A single and two walks loaded the bases with one out so Nick needed a double play in a bad way. That's exactly what he got, inducing a soft comebacker from Starling Marte. Martinez grabbed it and went home to Gary Sanchez, who threw to Jake Cronenworth at 1st to complete the 1-2-3 double play. That should have ended the game with a 4-3 Padres win. Instead it led to a 10th inning and another implosion by the Padres bullpen.
In the 10th inning Tom Cosgrove, who has been stellar in his rookie season, came on and finally had a bad night in the big leagues. The lefty gave up a double to Jeff McNeil to score Marte then a tough hop single to Francisco Alvarez that brought home McNeil for a 5-3 lead. New York tacked on two more to make it a 7-3 lead that the Padres couldn't overcome.
Not for a lack of trying, mind you.
Manny Machado ripped a 2-run homer to left to cut the lead in half and at least stoke hopes of a dramatic comeback.
It'll be a pair of lefties on Saturday night when Blake Snell takes the mound trying to even the series against David Peterson.
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