NEW YORK—Pete Alonso had a season-high five RBIs, combining with Francisco Lindor on first-inning home runs that built a three-run lead against Dylan Cease after just 16 pitches, and the surging New York Mets beat the San Diego Padres 11–6 Sunday for their fifth straight win.
Tylor Megill (2–3) allowed two runs on five hits over five innings as the Mets opened a 7–1 lead and held on to sweep San Diego for the first time since 2006.
“Those are some of the games that we were losing in May, and today we found a way,” Mets Manager Carlos Mendoza said.
San Diego lost its seventh straight road game and dropped below .500 at 37–38. The Padres have averaged 2.2 runs per game during the road skid.
“We’ve got to start to marry our hitting and our pitching more consistently,” Padres Manager Mike Shildt said.
Lindor tied the score with his 19th leadoff home run—his previous was against Cease on Sept. 3, 2019. Alonso put the Mets ahead 4–1 with a three-run drive, his 15th home run this season.
New York allowed San Diego to close to 7–6 with a four-run eighth. Drew Smith struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. to strand runners at the corners after a jumping catch by center fielder Harrison Bader held Luis Campusano to a sacrifice fly rather than a tying, two-run extra-base hit.
Alonso hit a two-run single in a four-run bottom half against Jeremiah Estrada, who allowed a leadoff homer to Luis Torrens.
The Mets’ J.D. Martinez went 2 for 3 with two walks and reached base in 10 consecutive plate appearances before striking out in the eighth inning.
New York has won nine of its past 11, and 11 of 15 since a three-game sweep by the Los Angeles Dodgers prompted Mets players to call a postgame team meeting. At 33–37, they head on the road among nine teams bunched within two games for the National League’s last two wild-card spots.
“We played great team baseball,” Alonso said. “We can string some wins together, and that’s what we did this homestand, and hopefully we can continue it on the road.”
Mr. Shildt and San Diego’s Manny Machado were ejected for arguing with plate umpire Adam Beck in the sixth after the all-star took a called third strike.
“Checked swing early doesn’t go your way. Borderline pitch doesn’t go your way,” Mr. Shildt said. “We haven’t had the results we want at the end of the day on the scoreboard. That can add up, as well. So, yeah, there’s some frustration there, but bottom line is we got to be better.”
Cease (6–6) allowed a season-high seven runs, seven hits, three walks and two wild pitches in 4 2/3 innings. He sat on the bench and shook his head when removed from the game.
Both teams wore jerseys with light blue ribbons and caps with light blue elements to raise awareness of prostate cancer on Father’s Day.
Trainer’s Room
Padres: Right-hander Joe Musgrove (right-elbow inflammation) likely will play catch Wednesday or Thursday.Up Next
Padres: Right-hander Randy Vásquez (1–3, 4.93 earned-run average) is scheduled to start Monday’s series opener at Philadelphia against Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez (3–3, 3.07).Mets: Left-hander David Peterson (2–0, 4.32) is set to start Monday night’s series opener at Texas, which plans to go with right-hander Jon Gray (2–2, 2.17).
