Flushing, NY – Flushing, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - New York starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka departed after just one inning, but the Mets bullpen carried them to a 3-1 win over the San Diego Padres on Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game set from Citi Field.
Matsuzaka was hoping to stay unbeaten on the season but had to exit after the first inning due to a severe upset stomach. Carlos Torres (3-4) allowed a run in four innings out of the bullpen, and Vic Black and Jenrry Mejia each tossed two scoreless frames to help New York bounce back from Saturday's 5-0 shutout.
Curtis Granderson ended New York's four-game homerless drought with a solo shot in the first. He and Lucas Duda each had a pair of hits, while Daniel Murphy and Bobby Abreu drove in a run apiece.
Ian Kennedy (5-8) struck out seven but was responsible for all three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 frames for the Padres, losers in six of seven.
The first four Mets hitters reached in the bottom of the first inning, with Granderson's leadoff home run setting the tone. Murphy then doubled, David Wright walked and Abreu grounded a two-bagger down the right field line to make it 2-0 before Kennedy had recorded an out.
With runners on second and third, however, Kennedy fanned Andrew Brown and induced a pair of pop ups to keep the Padres within striking distance.
They did strike the next half inning, plating a run against Torres with three straight singles. Carlos Quentin led off the frame with a poke to left, moved to third on Yonder Alonso's base hit and scored on Rene Rivera's infield single off the glove of a diving Wilmer Flores.
Murphy's sacrifice fly in the second inning made it 3-1.
San Diego threatened in the sixth inning against Vic Black, who took over for Torres and quickly issued a pair of walks to Seth Smith and Chase Headley. The Padres failed to push across another run, with a pair of pop ups in the infield leading to Rivera's inning-ending strikeout.
Kevin Quackenbush came out of San Diego's bullpen and got out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth, forcing Wright to fly to right on a full count.
Mejia needed just six pitches to get through the eighth and got some help from Duda at first base in the ninth to pick up his seventh of the season. Duda made a diving stop for the first out and caught a liner for the second before an Alexi Amarista groundout to end the game.
Game Notes
Duda doubled twice ... Wright went 0-for-3 with a walk and has now hit safely in just two of his last 39 at-bats ... San Diego had four hits -- all singles -- as a team and finished 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.