SAN DIEGO — The postseason feel was there, with two ace starting pitchers battling Thursday in front of a sellout crowd and runs at a premium for most of the night.
If there was a best sign for the Mets, it might have been the manner in which their bullpen withstood the challenge after Luis Severino failed to work deep into the game.
The Mets held it together with a superb performance from that bullpen — at least from three of the four relievers they utilized — in an 8-3 victory over the Padres at Petco Park to begin a 10-game road trip that includes plenty of NL wild-card flavor.
Danny Young, Reed Garrett and Phil Maton each pitched a scoreless inning — without allowing a hit — before Huascar Brazoban survived a messy ninth after his team had broken the game open in the top of the frame.
The Mets led only 3-1 before scoring five runs in the ninth.
Brazoban gave two runs back.
In winning for the third time in four games, the Mets (67-61) remained 1 ½ games behind Atlanta for the NL’s third wild-card spot.
The Padres (72-57) fell a half-game behind Arizona for the first wild card.
The Padres have been among MLB’s hottest teams, with nine series victories in their last 10 played.
But they now have lost consecutive games for the first time since July 19.
Severino built his pitch count early and had to labor through the fifth, ending his night after only five innings.
The right-hander allowed one earned run on five hits and four walks over that stretch.
It followed the gem Severino fired against the Marlins last Saturday when he became the first Mets pitcher to throw a complete-game shutout since Jacob deGrom in 2021.
Mark Vientos’ RBI double in the first inning produced the game’s first run.
Francisco Lindor doubled leading off, and Vientos smacked Dylan Cease’s next pitch into the left-field corner.
Jose Iglesias’ double was the big hit for the Mets in the third when they scored twice to extend their lead to 3-0.
After Jesse Winker singled, Iglesias hit a shot that bounced on the warning track in deep left-center and reached the seats.
Winker was sent back to third but later scored on a passed ball by Luis Campusano with Francisco Alvarez at the plate.
Jeff McNeil’s two-out infield single brought in the other run.
Severino escaped a jam in the second by retiring Campusano for the final out after walking Xander Bogaerts and surrendering a two-out single to David Peralta, who stole second.
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In the third, Luis Arraez and Jurickson Profar singled in succession before Severino recorded the final two outs.
Severino walked Profar to load the bases with nobody out in the fifth but got Jake Cronenworth to ground into a double play, with the run scoring.
The ensuing batter, Manny Machado, drew a full-count walk before Bogaerts was retired.
The rally started for the Padres with a walk to Mason McCoy and Arraez’s single.
Cease was removed after 6 ¹/₃ innings during which he allowed three runs, one of which was unearned, on nine hits with seven strikeouts and one walk.
Vientos delivered a two-run single against a drawn-in infield in the ninth after the Mets loaded the bases with nobody out to extend the lead to 5-1.
Alonso’s third single of the game brought in another run before Winker stroked an RBI triple.
Iglesias’ RBI infield single extended the lead to 8-1.
Brazoban allowed two hits and two walks in the ninth before recording the final out.
