San Diego Padres starting pitcher Randy Vasquez issued a one-out walk to Pete Alonso in the bottom of the third inning to put runners on the corners for the New York Mets.
Padres manager Mike Shildt decided to take Vasquez out of the game and replaced him with left-hander Wandy Peralta. The move seemed odd considering both Vasquez and Peralta are known as ground ball pitchers. It appeared Shildt was playing the matchup putting a left-handed pitcher against Brandon Nimmo, who is a left handed batter.
The move backfired as Peralta allowed a three-run home run to Nimmo on the fourth pitch of the at-bat, which put New York ahead of San Diego 5-1. The Mets went on to win the game 6-1 and won the series, taking two of the three games.
Vasquez entered the start against New York after two solid outings against the Colorado Rockies, one of which included a nine strikeout performance. In both of those games, Vasquez worked into and out of trouble, but he was not afforded that opportunity against the Mets. Vasquez’s final line will show he allowed four earned runs in 2 1/3 innings, but two of those runs scored on the Nimmo homer allowed by Peralta.
The San Diego offense struggled against New York rookie starter Jonah Tong. The Padres scored a run after a Fernando Tatis Jr. single in the top of the third. An errant throw to first by Tong on a pickoff attempt allowed Tatis Jr. to get to second. He advanced third on a wild pitch by Tong and scored on a shallow fly ball to left field by Luis Arraez. Tatis Jr. tagged up and scored for the lone San Diego run, which tied the game, 1-1.
The Padres did not have another hit in the game until the top of the eighth inning. Jake Cronenworth hit a ball back to Mets reliever Gregory Soto, which deflected off his left foot, allowing Cronenworth to reach. Tatis Jr. reached on a similar scenario where the ball again deflected off Soto and rolled into right field. With two on and two out, Arraez grounded out on another ball to Soto to end the inning.
The Mets were held scoreless until Ron Marinaccio allowed a run in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Pete Alonso to score Francisco Lindor, to put New York ahead of San Diego 6-1.
The Mets did not have many, if any problems at the plate against Padres pitching. New York hitters recorded 10 home runs during the three-game series. Eight of the 10 home runs were allowed by San Diego starters.
The Padres head to Chicago to take on the White Sox, Friday at 4:40 p.m.
