NEW YORK — What happened in the first two innings of Monday night’s game at Citi Field was …
No, really. What happened? That was crazy.
The beginning of the Padres’ 2-1 loss to the Mets was about as unique as it gets in a game with such a long history and that is so random by nature that it can never actually be considered all that surprising.
The beginning also turned out to pretty much be the end of any substantive action.
And that ended up being extremely frustrating for the Padres.
Seven of the Padres’ first nine batters reached base, and they had not scored to that point. Four of their first six outs were made at the plate, including three on throws from an outfielder.
They would end up having to lament that they did not bury Mets starter Nolan McLean when they easily could have, because the right-hander settled in after the second inning and made it through six innings with virtually no further trouble.
The disappointment was compounded by the fact that their own starter pitched even better than McLean.
Walker Buehler allowed two runs in the first inning but from there retired 16 of the final 17 batters he faced, including the final 10.
What happened on successive plays to end the top of the first inning was bonkers. When it happened again to end the second inning, that was unprecedented.
It was the first time since at least 1920 that a team had been thrown out at home plate three times in the first two innings. It had been 25 years since the Padres had three runners thrown out at home in a game. The last time it happened three times in any major league game was 2010.
Monday’s craziness, in summation:
The last four Padres batters in the top of the first inning singled, the third of those a flare by Ty France resulting in third-base coach Bob Henley curiously sending Jake Cronenworth home after Cronenworth had to hold up between second and third to see if right fielder Carson Benge would catch the ball.
Benge, who had thrown out runners in each of the previous two games, fielded the ball on one hop before Cronenworth reached third, and by the time Cronenworth was seven feet from the plate, catcher Francisco Alvarez was waiting for him with the ball in his glove.
Jackson Merrill then went to the plate and lined a single to Benge, and Manny Machado raced around third and was out by a step when Benge made a nearly perfect throw.
The Mets made much better use of their baserunners in the bottom of the first to take a 2-0 lead.
A.J. Ewing led off with a single, and Francisco Lindor walked before a single by Bo Bichette scored Ewing and moved Lindor to third. A sacrifice fly by Luis Robert Jr. made it 2-0.
The first three Padres batters reached base in the second inning — on walks by Luis Campusano and Xander Bogaerts around a pinch-hitting Gavin Sheets.
Luis Rengifo then hit a comebacker to McLean that likely would have resulted in a double play had McLean’s throw home to force out Campusano not been high. That was big, because Fernando Tatis Jr.’s fly ball to the wall was the second out and drove in Sheets from third.
The next out at home on a single followed.
Bogaerts, who went to second on Tatis’ fly ball, took off on Cronenworth’s grounder through the left side. As Bogaerts was rounding third, Ewing was picking up the ball in left field and Henley was holding up his hand to stop Bogaerts, who kept running and was out on a close play.
That was close to the Padres’ last threat.
A one-out single in the fourth and a pair of two-out walks in the fifth were the only baserunners McLean allowed the rest of his night.
Luis Rengifo’s bloop single was followed by Tatis hitting into a double play at the start of the seventh inning against Jonathan Pintaro, and Cronenworth’s walk immediately after that was followed by seven outs.