The San Diego Padres enjoyed the Fernando Tatis Jr. Show tonight against the New York Mets in a 5-2 win that featured two Tatis homers and an over-the-wall catch that robbed Francisco Lindor of a grand slam.
Tatis Jr. started the game off with a bang for the Padres as he hit a solo homer off Mets starter Zac Thornton on the first pitch of the game to make it 1-0. The Mets threatened off Padres starter Robbie Ray in the second, as they loaded the bases via three walks. But Tatis flashed his leather to go up over the fence and steal a grand slam from Francisco Lindor to keep the Padres in front.
Tatis struck again on offense against Thornton in the fifth inning as he hit a two-run, opposite field shot after a Jake Cronenworth single to make it 3-0.
Luis Torrens got the Mets on the board in the fifth inning with a solo home run, which was his fifth in his last 20 at-bats, and it narrowed the gap to 3-1.
Thornton left after five, as he was up in the zone in this start and didn’t have his usual command. He did strike out seven, but the left-hander’s pitch count was higher than usual as he wound up throwing 99. Ray, meanwhile, gave up just the one run early as he righted the ship and gave up just three hits and the three walks to go with four strikeouts in six innings.
The Padres padded their lead in the seventh off reliever Jack Weisenburger as Luis Rengifo and Mancy Machado both walked, and Ty France singled home pinch runner Jase Bowen as he took over for Rengifo and raced home ahead the throw from left fielder A.J. Ewing.
The Mets threatened off relievers Bradgley Rodriguez and Adrian Morejon in the seventh but couldn’t score. Luis Robert Jr. cut the San Diego lead to 4-2 off Morejon in the eighth, however, when he led off the inning with a solo homer to right center. The Mets got two more runners on in the eighth, but Morejon was able to get out of the jam to keep the lead at two runs going into the ninth.
Machado made it a three-run lead in the ninth with a solo homer, though, to make the Mets task that much tougher. Mason Miller finished it off with his 31st save of the season as he struck out Lindor and Bo Bichette in a 1-2-3 inning to wrap it up.