SAN DIEGO — One swing of the bat was all it took for the whole tone of the game to change.
The Mets had successfully prevented the tying run from crossing with runners on the corners in the bottom of the seventh, but right-hander Jose Butto couldn’t protect a lead in the eighth. Jurickson Profar took him deep for a game-tying, two-run homer Sunday afternoon in the series finale against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
After fans of the visiting team chanted MVP for Francisco Lindor during Saturday’s win, the Petco Park faithful trolled Mets fans with MVP chants of their own for Profar.
Maybe they should have been chanting rookie of the year instead. Edwin Diaz (5-2) gave up a walk-off bomb to rookie outfielder Jackson Merrill in the bottom of the ninth and the Mets split the series with the Padres with a 3-2 loss.
Jose Quintana battled another left-handed veteran, Martin Pérez, and turned in his first scoreless outing since July 9 by limiting the Padres to only four hits and two walks. He also received help from the defense behind him and a relief appearance Butto.
After a 1-2-3 fifth inning, Quintana gave up a leadoff single to Mason McCoy and nearly gave up another hit to Profar. But second baseman Jose Iglesias dove to stop a screaming grounder by the outfielder. Unable to get up in time to tag the bag, he remained sprawled out in the dirt and kicked the bag with his left toe in time to get McCoy for the force-out.
Quintana retired the next two in order.
In the sixth, Manny Machado reached base for the third time with a long single to left. Jake Cronenworth hit one hard to center field that started to tail toward the gap, but Harrison Bader ran it down and made the catch for the out. Merrill then worked a walk and the Mets took no chances, bringing in Butto to finish the inning.
San Diego pinch-hit Luis Arraez, who advanced Machado to third on a fly ball to center field, and David Peralta. With the runners on the corners and the tying run on first, Peralta went the other way by ripping a 1-1 changeup down the left field line, but it was just barely foul. Two pitches later, he pulled one down the right side.
Again, it was foul.
With the count full, catcher Luis Torrens gunned down Merrill at second base, connecting with Lindor to catch the NL Rookie of the Year frontrunner stealing and end the inning.
J.D. Martinez broke a scoreless tie with a home run off Perez in the fourth inning. Perez threw Martinez a cutter in the zone on 2-1 and the slugger sent it 427 feet to center field.
After going 0-for-11 in the first three games of the series, he went 2-for-4 with his 15th home run of the season Sunday.
Mark Vientos, who came into the series as one of the Mets’ hottest hitters but was cooled off over the last two games (0-for-8), hit his 21st home run off right-hander Jason Adam in the seventh to make it 2-0.
The Mets (68-62) remain 2.0 games outside of an NL Wild Card spot while the Padres (74-58) remain in second place, behind the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Amazins’ next opponent.