SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Padres bounced back nicely after getting beaten up by the New York Mets in the opening game of a showdown between two of the National League’s top teams.
Jake Cronenworth homered, doubled, singled and had five RBIs, and Sean Manaea pitched seven strong innings to beat former teammate Chris Bassitt in the Padres’ 13-2 rout of the Mets on Wednesday night.
While the Mets still have the NL’s best record at 38-21, the Padres gained some confidence in dominating New York in a 7-0 win Tuesday night and then scoring a season-high 13 runs Wednesday night. The Mets won the opener 11-5 on Monday night.
Manaea noted that the Mets were without Pete Alonso and Starling Marte, but added: “For us to bounce back like that is huge. This team is really special and teams have to do that over the course of the season. You’ve got to get your teeth kicked in a couple times throughout the season, but what we were able to do tonight says a lot about what you are as a team.”
The Mets absorbed their third series loss this season. They committed three errors minus Alonso and Marte, who were injured Tuesday night.
Cronenworth, who struggled at the plate earlier this season, fell a triple shy of his second career cycle. He collected the Padres’ third cycle on July 16 in a 24-8 win at Washington. The Padres have never had a cycle in San Diego. New York’s Eduardo Escobar had the first cycle in Petco Park’s 19-season history on Monday night.
Jurickson Profar drove in three runs and scored three. Manny Machado had two RBI doubles. Cronenworth and Kim Ha-seong also scored three times apiece for San Diego, which has won five of six.
Cronenworth singled in the third and scored on Machado’s double. He hit a two-run double with one out in a five-run fourth to knock out Bassitt.
Cronenworth then launched a three-run shot into the home run porch down the right field line with two outs in the fifth. It was his sixth. The left-handed hitter walked in the seventh.
“I’ve felt comfortable over the last three, four weeks. Just trying to find something to get me in the right spot,” Cronenworth said. “To see it paying off is awesome.”
He has three homers and 14 RBIs in his last five games.
The only difference, he said, is “just the results. I think I feel the same at the plate, it’s just getting the results you want.”
Padres manager Bob Melvin said Cronenworth “hasn’t really hit his stride yet. The overall numbers don’t look great. I know he was a little frustrated with it, but he factors into a whole lot of these games that we win.”
Manaea (3-3) held the Mets to two runs, one earned, and three hits. He struck out three and walked three.
Bassitt (4-4) lasted only 3 1/3 innings. He allowed seven runs, six earned, while striking out six and walking two.
FORMER TEAMMATES
Manaea and Bassitt were teammates with the Oakland Athletics from 2016-21 and became good friends.
“To have something like this match up like that was pretty crazy,” Manaea said. “It was really the first time I’ve done something like that. … Bass was like the first guy where we were teammates for a long time and things matched up. Leading up, there was a lot of excitement. That’s one of my boys over there.”
Melvin, in his first year as San Diego’s skipper, was their manager in Oakland. He said before the game it was going to be “kind of a surreal feeling” watching them pitch against each other.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: Alonso and Marte got promising diagnoses. Both are hoping to avoid the injured list and could be back in a matter of days. Alonso was hit in his right hand by a pitch Tuesday, but X-rays and a CT scan showed no fractures. The slugger is tied for the NL lead with 16 homers. Marte left Tuesday night’s game with quad tightness but said he was feeling better. The Mets are off Thursday before opening a three-game series at the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
Padres: Melvin said the next bone scan on SS Fernando Tatis Jr.’s surgically repaired left wrist won’t be until next week, probably on Monday. The Padres want to see enough progress before letting the superstar start taking swings. He reportedly was hurt in a motorbike accident in the Dominican Republic.
UP NEXT
Mets: Hadn’t announced a starter for Friday night against the Angels. RHP Tylor Megill could return from the injured list.
Padres: RHP Joe Musgrove (6-0, 1.64 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday night in the opener of a four-game series against Colorado that includes a doubleheader on Saturday. Musgrove lost a no-hit bid with two outs in the eighth inning of a 7-0 win at Milwaukee on Friday. The Padres are 9-1 in his starts. Colorado will counter with RHP Chad Kuhl (4-2, 3.17).
