The Mets got a gutsy six-inning performance from Nolan McLean, but couldn't hang on to a late one-run lead, falling to the Padres 3-2 in San Diego on Saturday night.
New York (28-36) managed six hits and two walks, but couldn't capitalize on chances, leaving five on base and going 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position. San Diego (33-30) closer Mason Miller, who allowed a run in the ninth in Friday's game, slammed the door shut in the ninth for his 18th save of the year, snapping the Padres' six-game losing skid.
Here are the key takeaways...
- McLean started sharply, getting Fernando Tatis Jr. swinging at a 97 mph sinker and Jackson Merrill looking at a 96 mph heater down the pipe in a 1-2-3 first, and Gavin Sheets staring at a 96 mph sinker right over the plate in the second.
But McLean was having to work a bit, throwing 34 pitches to get the first six outs, as the command of his breaking pitches was a bit spotty. The young right-hander issued his second walk of the night to start the third, and it bit him when Tatis bounced a one-out single off of second base into right field to level the score. After another walk put two on with two outs, McLean got Manny Machado swinging at a good curveball below the zone to close the 28-pitch inning.
The righty rebounded with a quick fourth, getting Xander Bogaerts looking at a good sinker on the outside corner in the process.
McLean got into trouble in the fifth, but good defense kept the Padres off the board. After a bloop single, McLean did well to field the sacrifice bunt and get the out at first. Next, Bo Bichette made a fine diving stop in the hole at short to keep the runner at second on an infield hit. And with two down and runners on the corners, LuisTorrens’ pump-fake on the steal attempt caught Sung-Mun Song too far off third base to end the inning.
At 91 pitches, Carlos Mendoza sent McLean back out for the sixth and the 24-year-old rewarded his skipper, getting San Diego 1-2-3 to close his line: one run on three hits, three walks, five strikeouts on 101 pitches (62 strikes). He was in line to grab a win, but things didn't break his way.
- Austin Warren, looking to protect a one-run lead, was the first man out of the bullpen and, after getting two quick outs, allowed an infield hit when he couldn’t scoop a bleeder down the first base line. On the very next pitch, Freddy Fermin – the Padres catcher who twice bunted with a runner on first and nobody out and entered the game with 13 hits in 103 at-bats – turned on a 94 mph sinker on the inside corner for a 366-foot go-ahead two-run shot to left, his first of the season. (Warren stayed on for a quick eighth, but the damage was done.)
- After giving up the lead, the Mets got something cooking with one out in the eighth against righty reliever Jason Adam as Carson Benge popped a single over first base and Bichette followed with a sharply hit liner up the middle to put two on for Juan Soto.
But San Diego, one of the best defensive teams in baseball, came up trumps as a 100.9 mph liner turned into a double-play as Song ranged to his right to just make a grab with an outstretched arm before flipping to catch Benge off second.
Benge finished 1-for-4 with a strikeout looking, Bichette 1-for-4 with a strikeout swinging, and Soto went hitless in four at-bats, including a strikeout swinging against left-handed reliever Adrian Morejon.
- Marcus Semien, who worked a walk his first time up, pulled a first-pitch single to left with one down in the fourth, but got caught trying to steal second three pitches later.
Semien made up for that by ambushing Padres reliever Bradgley Rodriguez in the seventh, smacking the first pitch of the frame for a go-ahead home run. The 98 mph sinker was right down the pike and the second baseman launched it 394 feet (101.5 mph) over the fence in the left-center gap, his seventh long ball on the year and fourth in the last 11 games. He finished 2-for-3 with a walk.
- Brett Baty, coming off a two-hit game on Friday, put the Mets on top with a two-out RBI single up the middle in the second. Finished 1-for-3.
- A.J. Ewing got the Mets going with a stinging single (106.4 mph off the bat) into right to put two aboard and one down in the second and later came around to score the first run. Ewing lost the Mets’ first challenge on a close pitch on the corner, but still managed to work a two-out walk in the fourth, his 10th free pass in 24 games. He went 1-for-2 with a strikeout and two walks, the latter a terrifically worked one against Miller with two outs in the ninth.
- Mark Vientos, who has been in a huge funk, had an RBI chance his first time up, but swung through a hanging Griffin Canning slider above the zone. He went down swinging on a 3-2 slider off the outside corner to end the fourth and swinging at a breaking pitch from Miller to end the ballgame, to finish hitless in four at-bats with the three strikeouts. Vientos is now 6-for-46 (.130) in the last 14 games with 15 strikeouts and no walks.
- Torrens tapped out to the pitcher to strand runners on the corners his first time up. Finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
- Jared Young went hitless in four trips to the plate with a pair of strikeouts.
- On the diving play at short, Bichette immediately began to wince and grabbed at his left shoulder after back-handing the ball. Mendoza came out of the dugout with the team's athletic trainer to check on the shortstop, but Bichette told the pair he was fine and remained in the game.
"He's fine," Mendoza said after the game. "Hopefully, he wakes up tomorrow [feeling fine], but you look at his swing after the diving play, there was no hesitation. He looked normal there. I'm anticipating him being fine for [Sunday]."
Highlights
Two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 first inning for Nolan McLean 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nYhxKUifgM
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 7, 2026
Brett Baty gets the Mets on the board first! pic.twitter.com/WgOLPue4fB
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 7, 2026
Nolan McLean makes the fadeaway throw to first base and Jared Young applies the tag to get Gavin Sheets pic.twitter.com/3HPO5buYOI
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 7, 2026
Luis Torrens fakes the throw to second and the Mets get Sung Mun-Song caught in the rundown 👏 pic.twitter.com/2bCDvKntZ7
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 7, 2026
MARCUS SEMIEN GO-AHEAD HOME RUN! pic.twitter.com/N1nRPAONH4
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 7, 2026
What's next
The three-game set concludes with Sunday's 4:10 p.m. first pitch on SNY.
New York will use Huascar Brazobán as an opener. San Diego will send out right-hander Randy Vasquez (3.31 ERA, 1.224 WHIP in 65.1 innings), a player they got from the Yankees in the Soto deal.