Chase Headley greeted Matt Harvey rudely with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning.
Rookie Matt Harvey allowed five runs in his shortest outing of the season which lasted only five innings at Petco Park against the San Diego Padres on Sunday afternoon. In the top of the sixth inning the Mets got their biggest offensive blow off the bat of Ronny Cedeno, but it wasn’t enough as the Mets fell by the score of 7-3.
The Mets fell behind early on a two-run Chase Headley home run in the bottom of the first inning. The Padres tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the third inning after a Carlos Quentin RBI double and a two-run homer off the bat of Yonder Alonso to five the Padres a 5-0 lead.
From the second to the fifth innings, Padres starter and New York native Jason Marquis set the Mets down in complete order. Mike Baxter walked to lead off the top of the sixth inning, and two batters later Cedeno pinch hit for Harvey and launched a two-run home run over the left field wall to trim the lead to 5-2.
Both teams exchanged runs in the seventh inning, as the Mets got theirs on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jason Bay to bring home Ike Davis. In the bottom of the inning Quentin struck again with a home run off of Ramon Ramirez who had come on in the inning to replace Manny Acosta who pitched well in relief once again.
Pinch-hitter and ageless wonder Mark Kotsay tacked on one more run in the bottom of the eighth inning with a double to score catcher John Baker, Ramirez then walked Alexi Amarista which ended the day for Ramon Ramirez as Elvin Ramirez came on the finish off the inning.
Huston Street came on to finish off the game in a non-save situation and shut the game down to give the Padres the series win over the Mets as they head back home for a day off on Monday.
Earning the win was Marquis (7-10) who pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on four hits. Dale Thayer, Luke Gregerson and Street as San Diego pitching combined to strike out eight Mets.
For New York the loss went to Harvey (1-2) who allowed five runs on eight hits. Acosta pitched a scoreless sixth inning, but Ramon Ramirez struggled in his inning and 2/3s of work before Elvin Ramirez finished off the eighth.
Up Next: The Mets have tomorrow off before returning to action on Tuesday at Citi Field against the Miami Marlins (or Florida Marlins according to Gary Cohen during today’s broadcast) as Jon Niese (8-5)takes the hill against Wade LeBlanc (1-1) for the fish. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. on SNY on television and on the radio on WFAN.
