San Diego, CA (Sports Network) – Jason Pridie scored on Scott Hairston’s bouncer in the 10th inning, boosting the New York Mets to a 5-4 win over the San Diego Padres.
Lucas Duda went 3-for-4 with a solo homer, while Pridie scored three times in the opener of this three-game series. Josh Thole went 3-for-3 with a two-run homer and three RBI, as New York snapped a five-game slide.
Jason Isringhausen became the 23rd player in major league history to record 300 saves, as the right-hander escaped a jam with two runners in scoring position. Isringhausen achieved the milestone after missing all of last season, and making only nine appearances in 2009.
“We had a champagne party here a while ago and stuff like that,” Isringhausen said. “It is special. It’s the reason I came back.”
Will Venable belted a two-run homer for the Padres, who lost for the third time in four games.
Mets starting pitcher R.A. Dickey gave up seven hits and three runs over 6 1/3 innings, while San Diego’s Aaron Harang yielded eight hits and four runs in five-plus frames.
The Mets pushed across the go-ahead run without a hit in the 10th, an inning started by Josh Spence (0-2) on the mound. Pridie and Thole walked. Chad Qualls then entered from the bullpen and Ruben Tejada put down a sacrifice bunt.
Hairston was up next and hit a bouncer on the left side of the infield. Shortstop Alberto Gonzalez made a diving stop, but didn’t have enough time to throw home. Instead, he threw to second and got Thole caught in a rundown, well after Pridie crossed the plate.
Manny Acosta (1-0) pitched the ninth, but Isringhausen ran into trouble in the 10th by walking Orlando Hudson with one out and giving up a single to Nick Hundley. Gonzalez then grounded out to move the runners into scoring position, and Logan Forsythe grounded a ball that was knocked down by Tejada at shortstop and he threw to first for the last out.
Duda and Thole homered in the second inning, and the lead remained 3-0 through the frame, one in which the Padres left the bases loaded.
Cameron Maybin scored on a Kyle Blanks double in the third, but Thole singled in Pridie in the fourth.
The Mets left the bases full in the fifth and a runner on third in the sixth before the Padres made it a one-run affair in the seventh on Venable’s fourth homer of the year.
“Happy to be swinging the bat well,” Venable said. “I don’t like looking back too much. It’s disappointing that it wasn’t there from the beginning. But we all go through it.”
Pinch-hitter Jesus Guzman singled to right to score Hudson in the eighth.