Mets Blow Late 2-0 Lead, Split Series With Padres

The New York Mets (68-63) entered Sunday’s series finale in San Diego at Petco Park hoping to dish the Padres their first series loss since before the All-Star break. After a clutch start by Jose Quintana, and two longballs, New York looked poised to take three of four from the sizzling hot Padres. However, a 2-0 lead got away from the Mets, and the Padres walked it off in the ninth thanks to a solo home run.

Quintana got the start, hoping to snap out of a prolonged slump. Despite a strong stretch in the middle of the year, his full body of work this year has been troubling. Deep in a wild card race, against a sizzling-hot team, Quintana had to be big, and he was.

The left-handed starter was able to pitch into the seventh inning, and in all went 6 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing only four hits. Interestingly enough, Quintana did not strike a single batter out, getting a majority of his outs on the ground. He only allowed five hard-hit balls en route to one of the most important outings by a Mets starting pitcher this season.

Following him, José Buttó aided the Mets to two huge outs in the seventh. After Quintana allowed a hard-hit single and walked a batter, Buttó got potential National League batting champion Luis Arráez to fly out before benefitting from a caught stealing where Luis Torrens and Francisco Lindor coupled to gun down Jackson Merrill. Lindor did a superb job keeping the tag on Merrill, after he came off second base.

Unfortunately for Buttó, the good times halted there. In the eighth, he walked the No. 9 hitter before allowing a game-tying, two-run home run to Jurickson Profar. Phil Maton was able to limit the damage, as Buttó allowed one more hit in the inning.

Things got worse for the Mets bullpen, as Edwin Díaz entered in the ninth, hoping to keep things tied and bring the game to extras. After getting the first Padre to strikeout, Díaz allowed a walk-off solo home run to the rookie Merrill.

The Mets did end up going 5-2 against the Padres this season, locking down the tiebreaker in the event that is needed.

Statistic of the Game: 2.5 Games

After the Atlanta Braves lost earlier in the day, the Mets had a chance to cut their wild card lead down to 1.5 games. However, with the loss, New York remains 2.5 games back of the final wild card spot.

The Braves will begin a three-game set in Minnesota before traveling to Philadelphia to end the week.

Player of the Game: Jose Quintana

As mentioned, it had been a struggle for Quintana his last four starts. He came up big for New York on Sunday, tossing six-plus innings of scoreless ball. Unfortunately, it was all for naught, as the Mets let the game slip away. However, more performances like the one Sunday will be needed from the veteran if the Mets hope to keep pace.

On Deck

The Mets will continue their road trip after a day off on Monday. Beginning on Tuesday, the Mets will begin a three-game set in Arizona against the Diamondbacks. Game one is slated for a 9:40 pm ET first pitch with a probable pitching matchup of Sean Manaea versus Brandon Pfaadt.

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