If only the Mets’ season began at the trade deadline.
One day it’s the bats carrying them, and another it’s a starting pitcher or rebuilt bullpen. It’s created at least something of a murmur for a team buried in the postseason race.
“I think it’s fun for the fans, right?” Mets owner Steve Cohen said Wednesday before his team’s 4-2 victory over the Padres at Citi Field. “It’s creating a little excitement and hopefully it will carry through to the end of the year and give us good feeling into next year.”
The series victory was the fourth in the five the Mets have played since the Aug. 3 deadline. Overall, the Mets are 11-4 over that stretch. Even so, the improved play hasn’t produced dramatic headway in the NL wild-card race, where the Mets are 10 games behind for the final spot. The Mets were 13 games behind before starting this surge.
Such is life trying to climb over seven teams, including these Padres, who are positioned for the NL’s third wild card.
Robert Stock gave the Mets a second straight effective abbreviated start, allowing one earned run on two hits and three walks with six strikeouts over 4 ⅓ innings. In his previous start, against the Nationals, the right-hander did not allow an earned run over the same length.
Carson Benge’s two-run homer in the fourth produced the game’s first scoring. Benge hit a shot just inside the left-field foul pole for his 11th homer this season and second within the week.
Nobody had a better homestand than Benge, who threw out four base runners from right field over a three-game stretch. The highlight was Monday, when he nailed two runners at the plate in the same inning, becoming the first outfielder in franchise history to accomplish that feat.
Fernando Tatis stroked an RBI double in the fifth that sliced the Mets’ lead to 2-1. Xander Bogaerts doubled against Stock to begin the rally. Stock was removed after Tatis’ double.
The Mets added insurance in the eighth. Bo Bichette grounded into an RBI fielder’s choice and Jared Young’s single widened the Padres’ deficit to 4-1.
Kodai Senga allowed one run in the ninth, but earned his fourth save in as many chances since moving into the closer’s role with Devin Williams on the injured list.
