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Adrian Gonzalez’s 11th-inning grand slam provided a brutal end to a brilliant pitchers’ duel Wednesday, as the San Diego Padres topped the New York Mets 5-1 at Citi Field.
Mets ace Johan Santana threw seven innings of five hit ball but walked five along the way. Unfortunately, the Mets once again failed to get him enough runs.
First, lets get the lost no-nos out of the way. Santana missed his chance in the first inning on Gonzalez’s single, marking the 7,698th New York Mets games with no no-no. Jason Bay’s first-inning single advanced the Padres’ no no-hitter count to 6,597 games.
The Mets got their run in the fourth inning on a Jeff Francoeur RBI single.
And that was the game’s only run until the bottom of the ninth, when Francisco Rodriguez couldn’t close the door. Pinch-hitter Tony Gwynn Jr. lead off with a single, stole second and scored on a David Eckstein single to tie the game at 1. A ninth-inning Gonzalez double could have ended the contest, but David Wright threw Eckstein out at home to send the game into extra innings.
Gonzalez got his second hero chance in the 11th and came through with a bases-loaded dinger off Raul Valdes.
