SAN DIEGO — One big hit can be all it takes to win baseball games and that’s exactly what happened Friday night in San Diego. Padres’ reserve infielder Matthew Batten ended the Mets’ six-game winning streak in his first at-bat of the season Friday night at Petco Park, helping to hand the Mets a 3-1 loss.
Batten’s blast was coupled with a shutdown pitching performance by left-hander Blake Snell, who blanked the Mets for six innings.
The home run came in the second inning off of left-hander David Peterson (2-7). The Padres (42-47) took a 1-0 lead when Brandon Dixon scored Gary Sanchez a fly ball to right field. It dropped right in front of Starling Marte, the outfielder fielded it on the bounce and threw out the runner at second.
Batten, the second baseman who was only called up from Triple-A El Paso earlier in the week, then took a changeup and drove it over the left field fence to put San Diego up 3-0.
Snell (6-7) made the lead stand up. The left-hander made light work of the visitors, allowing only a single hit and three walks. His third baserunner came in the fifth when Brett Baty reached on catcher’s interference. But Baty broke for second trying to make something happen on the basepaths and was thrown out.
The Mets struck out 11 times against Snell. Their only run came in the seventh inning when Francisco Alvarez hit his 17th home run of the season off right-hander Luis Garcia to finally put the Mets (42-47) on the board. His 17 home runs are the second-most ever by a catcher under 21 behind Johnny Bench’s 26.
However, this time it came without the fireworks. In the next at-bat, Batten made a stellar stop on a line drive by Jeff McNeil to prevent the Mets from creating any momentum. Garcia retired the next two. Nick Martinez struck out the side in the eighth and Josh Hader earned his 21st save of the season.
The Mets ran out of gas after reeling off six straight and two of the last three in comeback fashion.
Peterson pitched into the sixth inning before the Mets went to the bullpen with one on and one out. Shortstop Francisco Lindor bobbled a ball and dropped it trying to make the out at first, allowing Sanchez to reach. It was an uncharacteristic two-error night for Lindor.
Peterson didn’t allow another run after the homer to Batten and struck out seven for the night, but his outing underscored the difference in the Mets when they don’t get at least six innings from their starting pitchers: The Mets are 27-4 when their starting pitcher goes six innings, 11-1 when the starting pitcher goes seven and 4-0 when they go eight innings.
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