Major League Baseball
San Diego 6, NY Mets 3
When: 10:10 PM ET, Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Where: Petco Park, San Diego, California
Temperature: 73°
Umpires: Home - Phil Cuzzi, 1B - Victor Carapazza, 2B - Mark Ripperger, 3B - Tom Hallion
Attendance: 19281

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres kids beat the New York Mets Wednesday night.

Rookies Manuel Margot and Luis Torrens drove in five runs with two swings of the bat and Margot and fellow rookies Allen Cordoba and Hunter Renfroe made outstanding plays in the field as the Padres scored a 6-3 victory over the Mets at Petco Park.

"They've got some talented young players over there," said Mets manager Terry Collins. "They make three diving catches in the outfield and the shortstop (Cordoba) makes a great play. Certainly defense was a huge part of what made them syuccessful tonight.

"And the big swings."

Center fielder Margot, 22, hit a two-run homer in the first, ran out a triple in the third and made one diving catch and another catch after a long run into left-center.

Rule 5 catcher Torrens, 21, hit a bases-loaded triple in the third to up the Padres lead to 6-1 and was singled out by Padres manager Andy Green. for his work behind the plate.

And corner outfielders Hunter Renfroe and Jabari Blash each made a diving catch.

But the defensive play of the night belonged to Rule 5 shortstop Cordoba. With the bases-loaded and two-out in the sixth, Cordoba made a diving stop to his left to field a one-hop smash off the bat of Rene Rivera then bounced to his feet to throw out the Mets catch and save two runs.

"I'd have to put that play first in my career," said Cordoba through a translator. "I was anticipating something to that side because Rivera is a pull hitter."

"The Cordoba play was as big a play as we've made all year," said Green. "That play changed the complexion of that game. It could have gone from 6-2 to 6-4 in a heartbeat. Overall, that's as good as we've played defense. It was great to see the outfielders come up with those catches."

Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin ran his record to 10-7, although he wasn't as sharp as he has been at Petco Park. He allowed two runs on four hits and three walks with five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Chacin, who entered the game with the lowest home earned run average in the National League, is now 6-2 in 11 starts at Petco Park with a 2.18 ERA.

Left-hander Brad Hand, who became the Padres leading closer option following Monday's trade of Brandon Maurer to Kansas City, picked up his third save.

The Padres had a 2-0 lead before Mets' left-handed starter and loser Steven Matz (2-4) recorded an out.

Jose Pirela opened the game with a single and Margot followed with his sixth homer of the season, a 419-foot drive to center on a 2-and-0 pitch.

The Mets got one of the runs back in the second. Jay Bruce drew a lead-off walk and came around on back-to-back singles by Lucas Duda and Jose Reyes.

The Padres broke the game open in the third, scoring four runs with Torrens' two-out, bases-loaded triple high off the wall in right-center being the big blow.

Margot followed his first-inning homer with a lead-off triple and immediately scored on Wil Myers' double. Matz then hit Hunter Renfroe with a pitch.

With one out, Cory Spangenberg bounced a grounder off Reyes' glove at short that was ruled a hit, loading the bases. But Matz had a chance to get out of the jam because the next two hitters were both Rule 5 rookies.

Matz struck out Cordoba.

But Torrens, who entered the game with a .187 average and three RBIs, hit a drive that fell a foot shy of being a grand slam for the catcher's first career homer. Still, it doubled his career RBI total.

Matz gave up six runs on nine hits in three innings.

"Balls down the middle," said Collins. "Look at the replays of the hits. They're center cup. You've got to get the ball off the middle of the plate."

The Padres led 6-1 after three. Then the Mets threatened to turn the game around in the sixth -- only to be turned away by Cordoba's stop.

Back-to-back singles by Asdrubal and Yoenis Cespedes and a one-out walk drawn by Wilmer Flores loaded the bases and forced Chacin out of the game after 5 1/3 innings. Buddy Bauman came on to retire Lucas Duda on a fly to right before issuing a bases-loaded walk to Reyes to make it 6-2.

Rivera then hit a drive to the left of rookie shortstop Cordoba, who made a diving stop and throwing out Rivera to save two runs.

Flores homered off Padres right-handed reliever Craig Stammen to cut the Padres' lead to 6-3 in the eighth.

The Padres win Wednesday night followed Mets wins in the first two games of the four-game series.

NOTES: Mets manager Terry Collins said INF Neil Walker, who has been on the disabled list since Jyune 15 with a partial tear of his left hamstring, could return as soon as this weekend, possibly playing some third base . . . LF Yoenis Cespedes was back in the Mets lineup Wednesday after leaving Tuesday night's game with tightness in both quad muscles. But Collins said Cespedes' quads remain an issue moving forward . . . Padres C Austin Hedges remains on the concussion disabled list 12 days after taking a foul tip off the mask in San Francisco. Padres manager Andy Green said he hopes to have Hedges back as soon as this weekend, but not before he can catch a bullpen session . . . Padres INF Yangervis Solarte, who has been out since June 20 with a left oblique strain, will start a rehab assignment with Triple-A El Paso Thursday night.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
NY Mets   San Diego
Steven Matz Player Jhoulys Chacin
Loss W/L Win
3.0 IP 5.1
4 Strikeouts 5
9 Hits 4
18.00 ERA 3.38
Hitting
NY Mets   San Diego
Wilmer Flores Player Manuel Margot
1 Hits 2
1 RBI 2
1 HR 1
4 TB 7
.333 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
NY Mets 5 1 8 .156 14 9 3 4 0 0
San Diego 10 1 19 .303 15 11 6 1 0 0