Major League Baseball
San Diego 4, NY Mets 3
When: 7:10 PM ET, Thursday, May 25, 2017
Where: Citi Field, New York City, New York
Temperature: 57°
Umpires: Home - Jordan Baker, 1B - Ryan Blakney, 2B - Bruce Dreckman, 3B - Mike Everitt
Attendance: 24131

NEW YORK -- The San Diego Padres spent the first quarter of the season meeting the low expectations bestowed upon them. But for three days at Citi Field, the Padres' short- and long-term future looked a lot better than that of the New York Mets.

Dinelson Lamet earned the win by tossing five strong innings in his major league debut Thursday night as the rebuilding Padres earned their first series victory in almost a month by beating the reeling Mets 4-3.

"We're going to go forward with youth," Padres manager Andy Green said. "I think a lot of guys are settling into being in the big leagues."

Eleven of the 25 players on the Padres' active roster have two years or fewer of major league experience, and most of them played a key role for San Diego (18-31), which won the final two games of the series after falling 9-3 on Tuesday night.

Rookie outfielder Allen Cordoba, a Rule 5 draftee who never played above Class A prior to this season, had his second straight two-hit game Thursday. Another Rule 5 selection, catcher Luis Torrens, had his first career two-hit game Tuesday.

Rookie outfielder Hunter Renfroe had two hits Thursday after hitting the go-ahead homer in Wednesday's 6-5 victory.

Rookie left-hander Jose Torres recorded two outs in the sixth inning after tossing 1 1/3 innings on Wednesday. Second-year right-hander Ryan Buchter threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings Thursday after earning the win one day earlier.

"You're seeing young guy after young guy do something special, so that's what you want to start seeing at this time of year," Green said.

The most vital role Thursday was played by Lamet, who was promoted from Triple-A El Paso prior to the game. The 24-year-old, whose fastball was regularly clocked at 98 mph, allowed one run -- a Lucas Duda homer in the second -- on three hits and two walks while striking out eight, the most strikeouts by a Padres hurler in his major league debut since Bob Shirley whiffed 11 batters April 10, 1977.

Green was most impressed with the calm demeanor displayed by Lamet.

"Told him he was done, he took it in stride, there was like no deep breath relief of it," Green said. "Sometimes you tell a young guy they're done and you'll see them like let all the energy out. (Lamet was) like 'OK.' It's good to see a guy wired like that. Usually that type of wiring plays really well in the big leagues. And that type of stuff has a chance."

Two of the Padres' "older" players -- 26-year-old third baseman Cory Spangenberg and 27-year-old outfielder Matt Szczur -- had two RBIs apiece Thursday. Spangenberg opened and closed the scoring with an RBI single in the first inning and a run-scoring double in the ninth while Szczur drew a bases-loaded walk in the first and hit an RBI single in the third.

Torres, Buchter, Kevin Quackenbush, Brandon Maurer and Brad Hand -- the same five relievers Green used Wednesday -- combined to limit the Mets to one run over the final four innings as San Diego won a series for the first time since taking two of three from the San Francisco Giants on April 28-30.

Hand earned his second save of the season and his second in as many nights despite allowing a run in the ninth. He closed the game out by retiring the potential winning run, Jay Bruce, on a pop-out to third.

Duda added an RBI single in the eighth for the Mets (19-26), who were expected to contend for the National League East crown but have lost 10 of 13 to fall 8 1/2 games behind the Washington Nationals.

Jose Reyes added two hits and had a run-scoring fielder's choice grounder in the ninth for the Mets, who left nine men on base. On Wednesday, New York stranded 12, including three in the ninth.

"We had a number of guys on base," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "Similar to last night in the ninth inning, we just didn't get a hit."

Right-hander Rafael Montero (0-4) struggled in an emergency start and took the loss after giving up three runs on five hits and three walks while striking out four over three innings. He threw a whopping 87 pitches.

Montero, who has a 8.24 ERA and has allowed 50 baserunners in 19 2/3 innings, started in place of ace right-hander Jacob deGrom, who was scratched because of a foreboding weather forecast. The game was played without interruption, albeit through a steady mist.

"We don't have a lot of options," Collins said of Montero. "So we've got to do a better job of getting him to buy into the fact that he's got to throw strikes."

NOTES: To make room for RHP Dinelson Lamet, the Padres optioned IF Carlos Asuaje to Triple-A El Paso. ... The Mets activated SS Asdrubal Cabrera from the 10-day disabled list and optioned C Kevin Plawecki to Triple-A Las Vegas. Cabrera hit into a double play as a pinch-hitter in the eighth.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
San Diego   NY Mets
Dinelson Lamet Player Rafael Montero
Win W/L Loss
5.0 IP 3.0
8 Strikeouts 4
3 Hits 5
1.80 ERA 9.00
Hitting
San Diego   NY Mets
Hunter Renfroe Player Lucas Duda
2 Hits 2
0 RBI 2
0 HR 1
3 TB 5
.500 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
San Diego 9 0 13 .257 22 11 4 6 0 1
NY Mets 8 1 14 .242 22 11 3 6 0 0