If hitting is truly contagious, the rest of the Mets lineup has caught whatever their DH has been spreading.
J.D. Martinez’s bat remains sizzling, but he was merely one contributor in an 11-6 drubbing of the Padres to finish off a sweep at Citi Field in front of 31,054 on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
The Mets (33-37) have won five straight, six of their past seven, nine of their past 11 games and just took three in a row against another NL wild-card contender.
Carlos Mendoza’s group could withstand an eighth-inning bullpen implosion because the offense exploded.
The Mets knocked 14 hits total and scored seven times in the first four innings, building a sizable lead that they would need because of a shaky relief corps.
A key Drew Smith strikeout in the eighth allowed them to take a breath, and the Mets ran away for a second time with a four-run bottom of the eighth to put the contest away.
The same club that was 11 games under .500 just two weeks ago and that has tried to fend off look-aheads toward the trade deadline is just two games out of a wild-card spot.
“I’m not looking at the standings,” Mendoza said before the Father’s Day smacking of the Padres (37-38). “Obviously, I know we got to continue to play better. … We’re going to be right there until the end.
“There’s a good feeling right now in that clubhouse.”
There isn’t a batter who feels better than Martinez, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and extended his on-base streak to 10 straight plate appearances before striking out in the eighth.
The late-spring signing has been everything the Mets could have wanted, both in the batter’s box and clubhouse.
But the good feeling has grown infectious.
The Mets’ offense wasted no time in jumping on San Diego pitching.
Francisco Lindor led off the first with a game-tying home run to continue his own upswing.
After Lindor’s crack, Brandon Nimmo singled before Martinez worked a walk.
Facing San Diego ace Dylan Cease, Pete Alonso blasted a first-pitch, three-run home run to left to send a statement early.
Cease did not record an out until his 28th pitch of the game.
He was knocked out in the fourth, when the Mets sprang for three more runs that became important late in the game.
In the fourth, the bottom of the lineup jump-started the party.
No. 7 hitter Luis Torrens singled before No. 9 hitter Harrison Bader sent an RBI double over Manny Machado’s head.
Bader took third on a wild pitch then scored on a sacrifice fly from Lindor.
The damage was not done. Nimmo took first on a single and circled the bases on yet another opposite-field drive from Martinez, this one a double that bounded off the right-field wall.
In the 15 games since the Mets hit rock bottom — Jorge Lopez tossing his glove into the stands before a team meeting was called — the offense has averaged 5.73 runs per contest.
Sunday’s outburst became necessary when the bullpen began melting down.
After a solid effort from both Tylor Megill (five innings, two runs) and Adrian Houser (two innings, one unearned run), Jake Diekman couldn’t throw a strike — to the plate or to second base — in the eighth.
Diekman inherited a runner on first and induced a potential double-play comebacker from Jake Cronenworth, but Diekman threw it into center field.
Diekman then walked the bases loaded and issued a second base on balls to score one run.
A fielder’s choice scored another, making it 7-4, before Smith entered.
Smith’s first three batters: RBI double, sacrifice fly, single.
With the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on first, Smith threw a fastball by Fernando Tatis Jr. and roared coming off the mound.
The Mets’ lead was whittled to one, but very briefly.
The Mets sent eight batters to the plate in bottom of the inning, when runs were driven in by Torrens (on a homer), Nimmo (on a two-run single) and Alonso (on a generously scored, two-run single that skipped past third baseman Donovan Solano).
Sean Reid-Foley finished off a happy Father’s Day in Queens.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]