Clay Holmes-Sean Manaea piggyback plan works in Mets' 8-3 win against Padres

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Sep 16, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — If ever there was a time to jump out to a big lead early in a game, it was Tuesday night.

Desperate to get starting pitching length, the Mets stacked two of them in the opening game of a three-game series against the San Diego Padres, the team directly ahead of them in the NL wild-card standings. Not to mention, the Mets have had some issues coming back late in games this season — they’re 0-64 when trailing after the eighth inning.

Going up by five runs in the bottom of the first inning is a pretty good way to get around those issues.

The Mets built on that for an 8-3 win over San Diego at Citi Field to start a crucial series on a high note. Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Brett Baty and Cedric Mullins each homered, and Clay Holmes and Sean Manaea limited the Padres in a piggyback start.

Instead of two days of minimal innings by Holmes and Manaea, the Mets managed to maximize their output. It only made sense to give the tandem approach a try. Holmes, a career reliever, has struggled to finish outings as he’s logged more innings than ever. Manaea, a left-hander, has continually run out of gas around the fifth inning during the second half of the season.

Between a day off Monday, and the decision to have rookie Jonah Tong take his next turn, the Mets could try something different.

The lineup spotted Holmes a 5-0 lead, which helped. Holmes gave up two solo home runs, one in the second to Jackson Merrill, and one in the third to Jake Cronenworth. But he used his sinker to get outs on the ground and didn’t face any traffic over his four-inning outing.

Manaea (2-3) allowed a solo home run to catcher Freddy Fermin in the eighth inning, going five innings with four strikeouts.

The first four hitters took singles off right-hander Michael King, with Brandon Nimmo’s single to left scoring two runs. Mark Vientos hit a chopper to King on the mound, and the former Yankees reliever was able to get the lead runner at home before catcher Freddy Fermin got Vientos at first for a double play.

Still, the Mets continued. Jeff McNeil hit the first pitch he saw to right for a double, and Baty swung on 3-1, sending a fastball over the right-center-field fence.

The Mets responded after the Merrill home run in the bottom of the third with two of their own from Lindor and Alonso to go up 7-1. Mullins had the response after the Cronenworth shot made it 7-2, hitting only his second long ball in a Mets uniform to chase King from the game in the fourth.

King (4-3) hadn’t allowed more than three earned runs and four unearned all season. Against the Mets, he gave up eight over four innings (plus one batter). They took 10 hits off of him, striking out only twice.

The wild-card spot is safe with the win, as the Mets (78-73) continue to hold off three other teams. San Diego (82-69) remains ahead of them in the standings.

Notes

Catcher Francisco Alvarez was hit on his left elbow with a 99-mph sinker from right-hander Bradgley Rodriguez in the bottom of the eighth. He left the game and was replaced by Hayden Senger. Alvarez is playing through a broken left pinky and a sprained right UCL thumb ligament.