Mets Roll to Series Victory Over Padres

METS 4 - PADRES 1 

The New York Mets remain red hot.

Powered by home runs from Francisco Lindor and Jonathan Villar, and spurred by another stellar outing from Marcus Stroman, the Mets defeated the San Diego Padres 4-1.  After winning the first two games of this weekend series, the Mets have now won four of six against San Diego this season, essentially winning the season series entering Sunday's finale. 

Stroman was dominant once again for New York, backing up his brilliant 6.2 inning effort a week ago in San Diego. This time he held the Padres scoreless for six innings until Fernando Tatis Jr. deposited a Stroman fastball into the seats in left field in the seventh inning. 

Other than that one mistake it was smooth sailing from Stroman who lowered his ERA to 2.33, and notched his sixth win of the year. 

The Mets rewarded Stroman early when Lindor crushed a two-run homer to left-center to give the Mets a 2-0 first inning lead. They never looked back. In the sixth, after Pete Alonso singled to move Lindor to third, Dom Smith's fielder's choice brought home the speedy shortstop to give the Mets a 3-0 advantage. 

Clinging onto a two-run lead late, the Mets got some needed insurance when Jonathan Villar launched a pitch into the upper deck for a solo homer to give the Mets a 4-1 advantage. 

Meanwhile the Mets bullpen continues to be spectacular. The combination of Aaron Loup, Seth Lugo and Edwin Diaz held the Padres without a hit in the final 2.2 innings, with Diaz earning his 12th save on a 10-pitch ninth inning. 

With the victory, the Mets improve to a season high eight games over .500 at 32-24. They wrap up their series with San Diego on Sunday before welcoming the first place Chicago Cubs into town on Monday for a four game series.