Six months too late, the Mets won the rubber game of a series from the visiting Padres.  

Taking two of three games in the second series on the first homestand of a new season certainly doesn’t make up for the disappointment of the 2022 Mets’ quick playoff exit at the hands of the Padres, but it will calm the rocky waters of an underwhelming start.

At least for a day or two.  

Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso hit the tying and go-ahead solo home runs, respectively, and David Robertson recorded the biggest out of the game in the seventh inning as the Mets defeated the Padres, 5-2, in front of 34,876 at Citi Field.

Juan Soto’s fingerprints were all over the game.

His two-run home run in the first inning gave the Padres an early lead and his misplay in left-center field allowed the Mets (7-6) to get one of those runs back on a generous second-inning double for Brandon Nimmo.

Soto represented the go-ahead run with runners on the corners and two outs in the seventh, when Buck Showalter summoned Robertson hoping the sometimes-closer’s curveball would neutralize one of the best left-handed hitters in baseball.

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Four of six pitches in the high-intensity at-bat were curves, including the one which induced a fly out to left field.

Robertson, who also worked out of a two-on two-out jam in the eighth, wasn’t yet part of the Mets when Soto hit .333 during a three-game series clinched with the Padres’ 6-0 win at Citi Field last October.

But the biggest difference between those three games and Wednesday probably was the Mets’ hitting with runners in scoring position.

Nimmo (two), Alonso and Tommy Pham all had hits with runners in scoring position, matching the three-game total that the Mets had in 23 at-bats during the playoffs.

After spinning a gem in the home opener last week, Tylor Megill got off to a rough start.

He walked Manny Machado ahead of Soto planting a 3-1 fastball into the right-center field pavilion area above the visitor’s bullpen for a 453-foot home run.

Megill’s only clean inning was the third but he pitched through traffic without further damage.

He scattered three hits, three walks and three strikeouts over five innings.

Lindor tied the score in the third and Alonso’s MLB-leading sixth home run put the Mets in front, 3-2, in the fifth.

Both blasts came off Blake Snell, who needed 100 pitches to record 15 outs

Nimmo saved the Mets from a wasted scoring chance and picked up teammate Tomas Nido in the sixth.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Nido bounced into a double play started by Machado’s Gold Glove that cut down the two lead runners.

Nimmo followed with an RBI single as part of his three-hit day.