J.D. Martinez homered twice and the New York Mets remained hot with a 5-1 victory over the visiting San Diego Padres on Saturday afternoon.
Jose Quintana and a pair of relievers combined on a two-hitter for the Mets, who have won four in a row and 10 of 14. The Padres fell to 6-8 this month.
Martinez has delivered the key hit in each of the Mets’ last three wins. He hit his first career walk-off homer Thursday in the ninth inning of a 3-2 victory against the Miami Marlins before lacing a two-run double in the third inning of Friday’s 2-1 win over the Padres.
Martinez finished 3-for-3 with a pair of walks Saturday, when he hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning before adding a solo shot in the seventh. His seven RBIs over a three-game span are his most since he collected eight RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers in three games from July 21-25, 2023.
The Mets were 1-for-10 with runners on in the first three innings against Padres rookie Adam Mazur (0-2) before finally breaking through with two outs in the fourth. Francisco Lindor doubled and scored on Brandon Nimmo’s double.
Nimmo also singled in the eighth, driving home Jeff McNeil from third. He was the only other Mets player with multiple hits. Lindor walked twice and stole a base.
Padres rookie Jackson Merrill extended his home run streak to three straight games by going deep off Quintana in the fifth. Quintana (2-5) allowed two hits and two walks while striking out six over six innings. San Diego was 0-for-5 with runners on against the 35-year-old left-hander.
Dedniel Nunez threw two perfect innings before Reed Garrett tossed a 1-2-3 ninth in a non-save situation.
Fernando Tatis Jr. had the Padres’ other hit, a first-inning double.
Mazur gave up two runs on three hits and six walks while striking out four over 3 2/3 innings
–Field Level Media
