J.D. Martinez comes through again, hits two homers to lead Mets to series win over Padres
NEW YORK — J.D. Martinez is proving to be the hero the New York Mets need.
The slugger played the hero role for the third straight day, hitting two home runs en route to a 5-1 win over the San Diego Padres on Saturday afternoon at Citi Field. Martinez had a monster day at the plate, going 3 for 3 with two homers, two walks and three RBI.
It was the fourth straight win for the Mets and secured a win in the weekend series. Martinez has driven in runs in the last three, including a walk-off homer Thursday against the Miami Marlins and a go-ahead, two-run double Friday against San Diego.
The veteran supplied the winning run again Saturday, driving in Brandon Nimmo in the fourth inning with a two-run homer off right-hander Jhony Brito, giving the Mets a 3-0 lead.
With two outs and the game scoreless, Francisco Lindor and Nimmo hit back-to-back doubles off starter Adam Mazur to put the home team up 1-0. The Mets finally got to Mazur (0-2) after the right-hander gave them numerous chances with six walks over just 3 2/3 innings.
The Padres went to the bullpen to counter Martinez with Brito, who fell behind 2-1 and then 3-1 before getting Martinez to swing through a slider to work the count full.
He left a changeup over the plate on the seventh pitch of the at-bat and Martinez hit it over the right-center field fence.
Jackson Merrill homered off left-hander Jose Quintana in the top of the fifth to cut the Mets’ lead in half, but Martinez led off the bottom of the seventh with homer No. 2 off right-hander Enyel De Los Santos. Using his opposite-field power, Martinez hit the second one to the same spot as the first one for his 23rd career multi-homer game.
The slumping Nimmo gave the Mets an insurance run in the eighth, driving in his second run of the day. Jeff McNeil, who has also been marred in a deep slump this season, led off the inning by doubling down the left field line. He reached third on two ground balls before Nimmo drove him home to make it 5-1 with a single off right-hander Stephen Kolek.
If Quintana’s grasp on his job was tenuous coming into this start, it’s much firmer after limiting the Padres (37-37) to only Merrill’s homer. The San Diego lineup managed only two hits and two walks off Quintana (2-5), who walked two hitters and struck out six over six innings. It was his best outing since April 28, when he held the St. Louis Cardinals to one earned run over eight innings.
Right-hander Dedniel Nuñez tossed two scoreless innings, giving a boost to a beleaguered bullpen. Right-hander Reed Garrett retired the side in order in the ninth. The Mets made the late-game theatrics and blown leads seem like distant memories with the way they soundly beat the Padres.
The Amazins’ will have a chance to go for the sweep Sunday at 1:40 p.m. ET.
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