NEW YORK -- For eight innings Tuesday night, the Padres and Mets grinded through a tense, low-scoring affair, a game awaiting its decisive moment. The Mets, on multiple occasions, threatened to provide one. They loaded the bases with none out in the first. They put two men aboard in the eighth. They got nothing in either instance.
So the game entered the ninth hanging in the balance. The Padres clung to a one-run lead.
Then Xander Bogaerts strode to the plate with two outs. Dennis Santana hung a slider, and Bogaerts dispatched it to the second deck at Citi Field. San Diego was on its way to a 4-2 victory, with Bogaerts’ two-run homer proving decisive.
The Padres will finish their seven-game swing through Atlanta and New York with a Wednesday matinee. Whatever the result, they’ve assured themselves of a winning road trip.
“Those are two teams that were in the playoffs last year, and -- who knows? -- they’re projected to be in there again,” Bogaerts said. “So it’s been a really good road trip. Tomorrow we’ve got one more game to go -- a big one.”
Here are four quick takeaways from Tuesday’s victory:
‘That’s one of the reasons you get him’
Bogaerts has opened his Padres tenure with a 1.093 OPS through 12 games. He’s reached base in every one of them. So, yeah, the early returns on San Diego’s 11-year investment are overwhelmingly positive.
Still, Bogaerts’ power display might qualify as a surprise. He went deep only 15 times last season and has already done so four times for San Diego.
“I’ve seen it enough,” said Padres manager Bob Melvin. “He’s a 30-homer, 100-RBI guy. That’s one of the reasons you get him. He’s a true two-way player, and not only that, he gets really big hits -- as he has already this year a few times.”
Thirty homers?
“That would be nice,” Bogaerts said. “Hitting ground balls … can get a little tiring. But yeah, I’m hitting balls in the air, getting good results. Results are always good, man.”
A statement from Campusano
No, Luis Campusano won’t be the Padres’ everyday catcher, in that “everyday catchers” don’t exist in 2023.
Still, the 24-year-old backstop is making a strong push to wrest playing time from starter Austin Nola. On Tuesday, Campusano notched his first career three-hit game, and his double in the ninth set the stage for Bogaerts.
More importantly, in Melvin’s eyes:
“He’s done a nice job behind the plate, too -- every game he’s started at this point, we’ve won,” Melvin said.
Indeed, the Padres are 4-0 when Campusano starts, and Melvin touted the “significant strides” Campusano has made calling games and handling the pitching staff.
“It’s just paying attention to the small details with hitters,” Campusano said.
Weathers’ great escape(s)
Ryan Weathers’ earliest baseball memories are watching his dad, David, pitch for the Mets. Ryan was only 4, so it’s all a bit vague. But he definitely remembers a Shea Stadium security guard giving him bubblegum.
Back in Queens on Tuesday, Weathers immediately found himself in a bind. He loaded the bases for Mets slugger Pete Alonso, then ran the count full after Alonso took a changeup.
“He took the 2-2, and I’m like, ‘Dang, that was one of my better [changeups],’” Weathers said. “‘We’re going to have to go again.’”
This time, Alonso chased. Then, Weathers escaped the threat by getting Mark Canha to hit into a double play.
“A little Houdini,” Weathers added.
In the fourth, the Mets put men on the corners with nobody out. Canha plated a run with a sacrifice fly, but only after Weathers had picked off Alonso -- so seamlessly that Alonso was looking toward the plate when first baseman Jake Cronenworth was setting up for the tag.
Unorthodox in the 'pen
Melvin’s stated preference is to slot his relievers into specific roles, working backward from the ninth, inning by inning. But Melvin can be flexible with that policy, too.
Tuesday called for some flexibility. The Mets were righty-heavy in the seventh with Alonso, Canha and, potentially, Tommy Pham due. So Melvin went to his righty-killer Luis García, who is typically reserved for the eighth.
“I liked the righties for García,” Melvin said after García allowed only a single to lefty Jeff McNeil.
Fellow right-hander Steven Wilson (and his more even splits) faced two lefties, two righties and a switch-hitter in the eighth. He worked his way out of trouble by striking out Francisco Lindor.
Closer Josh Hader made it interesting in the ninth, allowing a run and putting the tying runs in scoring position. But he punched out Mets top prospect Francisco Álvarez with a high fastball to end it.
