As Padres manager Bob Melvin laid out the expectations as Blake Snell settled back into the Padres’ rotation, a caveat was implied all along.
The 2018 AL Cy Young winner would have no restrictions.
At least not from Melvin.
Making his fourth start of the season, Snell labored through a 43-pitch first and was lifted in the fifth inning of an 11-5 loss to the Mets, owners of the NL’s best record, in front of a crowd of 34,858 on Monday night at Petco Park.
Eduardo Escobar did most of the heavy lifting for New York, singling and doubling off Snell and finishing the first cycle at Petco Park with a home run off Craig Stammen in the eighth and a triple off Tim Hill during a four-run ninth.
The latter hit answered Luke Voit’s three-run homer off the top of the wall in left-center, briefly turning Monday’s contest into a two-run game.
Slowed by an adductor strain, Snell was coming off his first quality start of the season, but walked three straight batters after recording the second out of the game, forcing Nabil Crismatt to warm up in a hurry.
That Melvin never called on Crismatt proved to be a silver lining as Snell went on to pitch four-plus innings despite trailing 3-0 after the first on J.D. Davis’ bases-loaded walk and Escobar’s two-run single.
Escobar added a double in the fourth inning and scored on Brandon Nimmo’s single to center, and Manny Machado’s fifth-inning throwing error added an unearned run to Snell’s line as Mark Canha followed what should have been a harmless ground ball from Pete Alonso with a double down the third-base line, chasing Snell from the game.
Rookie Steven Wilson replaced Snell and fetched two outs immediately when Canha was thrown out trying to advance to third on Davis’ sacrifice fly to center. Escobar then popped out to shortstop to end the fifth with the Mets leading 5-1.
Snell threw just 59 of his 95 pitches for strikes, walked three batters — all in the first inning — and allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits in four-plus innings. He struck out four.
Wilson went on to pitch two more innings to spare the bullpen a bit, but Escobar added a two-run homer off Stammen (1 1/3 IP, 4 ER) after the Padres had cut the Mets’ lead to 5-2 on Nomar Mazara’s seventh-inning double and a two-run triple off Hill (2/3 IP, 2 ER) in the ninth.
Mets right-hander Carlos Carrasco struck out 10, did not walk a batter and allowed two runs on five hits, two from Jurickson Profar, en route to his fourth three-hit game of the season and third multi-hit effort in his last four games.
Profar’s leadoff double to start the game was stranded, but he cashed in Jorge Alfaro’s leadoff double in the third with a single to left, his fifth RBI in his last four games. Profar added a third hit in the eighth, followed by Jake Cronenworth’s walk and Voit’s home run to left-center off reliever Drew Smith, his fifth of the season.
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