Mets vs Padres Recap: Late Homer Costly for Mets

The Mets rolled into San Diego hungry for payback. They had lost the night before 5-0, a total shutout that stung bad. Now they were back at Petco Park on Sunday ready to prove themselves. The Padres were struggling too—they'd dropped six of their last ten games and needed a win. Marcus Semien and Brett Baty led the Mets' charge early. In the second inning, Baty ripped a single up the middle off Griffin Canning's 88-mile-per-hour slider. Semien raced home from second base. Just like that, the Mets had the 1-0 lead. New York was sharp and focused. They looked nothing like the team that got shutout twenty-four hours earlier. The score was 1-0 and the game felt wide open.

San Diego didn't roll over. They tied it right back up in the third inning when Fernando Tatis Jr. ripped a single to right off a 95-mile-per-hour sinker from Nolan McLean. Sung-Mun Song raced home from second to make it 1-1. The tension was building. Both teams had their best hitters ready to go. The game stayed tied through the middle innings. Then came the seventh. Marcus Semien stepped up and crushed one deep to left center—a 394-foot blast that rocketed over the wall. The Mets had the lead at 2-1. New York's bats were coming alive. But San Diego had answers. Freddy Fermin answered right back with a two-run homer to left. The Padres took the lead 3-2 and weren't letting go.

Mason Miller came in to close it down for San Diego. The reliever locked in tight and shut the door. Nolan McLean had pitched well for New York, giving up just one earned run over six strong innings with five strikeouts. But the Mets' bullpen couldn't hold the lead. Austin Warren took the loss after giving up two runs. The Padres stood tall in the late innings and never blinked. Final score: San Diego 3, New York 2. The Padres improved to 33-31 and kept their playoff hopes alive on a day when they desperately needed a win. The Mets fell to 29-36, now sitting much deeper in the standings. One swing from Freddy Fermin—that 366-foot homer—ended up being the difference. Juan Soto and the Mets couldn't catch up after that.