San Diego, CA – San Diego, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Travis d'Arnaud's two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth inning Friday lifted the New York Mets to a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres in the opener of a three-game series.
Curtis Granderson scored the go-ahead run after drawing a leadoff walk and moving up to second base when Joaquin Benoit (3-2) intentionally walked Lucas Duda.
D'Arnaud smacked a 3-2 fastball the other way, sending it through the right side of the infield to make it 5-4.
He finished with three hits and two RBI and Juan Lagares had a two-run single for the Mets, who finished the first half of the season with an 8-2 homestand and have now won nine of their last 11 games.
Chase Headley had a two-run single to cap a four-run rally in the fifth inning that tied the game for the Padres, who have dropped eight of their last 10.
Jeurys Familia (2-3) pitched a perfect eighth inning to pick up the win and Jenrry Mejia worked around Chris Nelson's two-out single in the ninth to earn his 11th save.
Both starting pitchers went five innings. New York's Bartolo Colon remained winless in his last four starts after giving up four runs on five hits and a walk, and Ian Kennedy also allowed four runs on six hits and three walks.
The Mets scored three runs in the first inning and had a 4-0 lead before the Padres tied the score with a four-run rally in the fifth.
Granderson led off the game with a single, went to second base when Kennedy hit Lucas Duda with a two-out pitch and scored on d'Arnaud's single. Kirk Nieuwenhuis then walked to load the bases and Juan Lagares followed with a two-run single.
Duda hit a leadoff double in the third, went to third on d'Arnaud's single and scored on Nieuwenhuis' groundout to make it 4-0.
The Padres had just one hit against Colon in the first four innings before their rally in the fifth.
Will Venable led off with a single, Jake Goebbert walked and they executed a double steal. Chris Nelson and Alexi Amarista followed with consecutive RBI singles and Headley added a two-run hit with two outs.
Amarista led off the bottom of the seventh for San Diego with a hit close to the line in left field but was thrown out by Nieuwenhuis trying to stretch it into a double.
Game Notes
Colon, who struck out six, is winless since a streak of six winning decisions in seven starts ... Kennedy fanned four. He entered the game with a 0.86 ERA in his previous three starts.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.