Mets’ ninth-inning explosion caps off 8-3 win over Padres

Luis Severino wasn’t as sharp as he was in his shutout last week, but he gave the Mets five solid innings before the offense exploded for five runs in the ninth inning in the team’s 8-3 win over the Padres on Thursday night in San Diego.

The Mets (67-61) have pulled within 4.5 games of the Padres for a Wild Card spot. New York remains 1.5 games behind the Braves who won their game on Thursday.

Here are the takeaways…

-The Mets got off to a quick start against Dylan Cease. Francisco Lindor and Mark Vientos hit back-to-back doubles to start the game and put the Mets up 1-0, but more potential runs were lost on some bad luck.

Brandon Nimmo followed Vientos with a hard liner to the shortstop and Vientos strayed a bit too far off second and was doubled off. The Mets would suffer some more bad luck in the fourth after a ground-rule double from Jose Iglesias prevented Jesse Winker from scoring from first base.

However, that bad luck turned quickly after a passed ball scored Winker and then Jeff McNeil hustled to first for an infield single to drive in Iglesias and give the Mets a 3-0 lead.

-The Mets would be held in check until the ninth inning, when New York started the frame with four straight singles, with Vientos’ single driving in two. Pete Alonso would drive in Lindor with a single and Winker plated Alonso with a double in the gap. Iglesias capped the five-run inning with an RBI infield single.

The Mets had 17 hits on Thursday night. Alonso and McNeil picked up three hits each while Vientos drove in a team-high three runs. Francisco Alvarez was the only Met to go hitless (0-for-5, 4 K’s).

-Severino pitched on normal rest after his shutout last Saturday and was solid.

Although he had to work around traffic in a few innings, the Padres could not lay off his slider and Sevy used the strikeout to his advantage. He got out of a second-and-third situation with two outs in the second and a first-and-second jam with one out in the third without allowing a run to score.

Sevy couldn’t escape trouble in the fifth, though, after he lost his command. He walked the No. 9 hitter before Luis Arraez hit a single to put runners at the corners with no outs. He walked Jurickson Profar to load the bases but got Jake Cronenworth to ground into a double play — thanks to Iglesias’ great hands. A run scored on the play, ending Severino’s 13 consecutive scoreless innings. After walking Manny Machado, Severino got out of the inning by getting Xander Bogaerts to ground out.

It wasn’t pretty, but Severino gave the Mets five innings (87 pitches/55 strikes) while allowing just one run on five hits and four walks. He struck out five.

-Out of the pen, Danny Young, Reed Garrett, Phil Maton and Huascar Brazoban combined to pitch four innings. Brazoban, who pitched the ninth, was the only reliever to struggle. The right-hander allowed two runs on two hits and two walks but eventually got the job done.

Game MVP: Jose Iglesias

Iglesias not only went 2-for-5 and drove in a run, but his nifty double play helped Severino get out of his biggest jam in the fifth and kept the Padres from potentially tying the game.

Highlights

What’s next

The Mets and Padres continue their four-game set on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 p.m.

Paul Blackburn (4.19 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets as they go up against their old nemesis Joe Musgrove (4.97 ERA).