Consecutive wins have not cured all that's ailed the New York Mets for the last three months.
But the victories have nudged the Mets a couple of steps closer to the last National League wild-card berth -- and a little further away from the possibility of suffering one of the greatest collapses of all time.
The Mets will look to clinch a series win Wednesday night, when they host the San Diego Padres in the middle game of a three-game set between the teams occupying the final two NL wild-card spots.
Left-hander David Peterson (9-5, 3.77 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against right-hander Nick Pivetta (13-5, 2.73 ERA).
Brett Baty, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Cedric Mullins all hit homers Tuesday night for the Mets, who cruised past the Padres 8-3.
With the win, the Mets (78-73) maintained their 1 1/2-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the race for the third NL wild card. The Padres (82-69), holding the second position, are four games ahead of the Mets.
The Mets, who ended an eight-game losing streak by defeating the Texas Rangers 5-2 in 10 innings on Sunday, have won back-to-back games for the first time since they earned consecutive victories over the Detroit Tigers on Sept. 1-2.
New York went 2-9 while being outscored 59-32 over the subsequent 11 games, a span in which its lead in the wild-card race decreased to a half-game. The skid continued a lengthy downturn for the Mets, who had the best record in baseball at 45-24 through June 12 but are just 33-49 since.
"Obviously, when things are kind of rolling in the opposite direction of what you want, you definitely feel that, and it seems a little harder to stop the momentum the further it goes," said Mets starter Clay Holmes, who tossed the first four innings Tuesday before Sean Manaea threw the final five frames. "It's nice to kind of just get things rolling back in a way that we want to and that we know we're capable of. But at the same time, we know it's still a lot of work to be done."
While the path to a playoff berth is still relatively clear for the Padres, they are running out of time to gain the top wild-card spot and home-field advantage in that round of the postseason.
San Diego slipped five games behind the first wild card, the Chicago Cubs, by virtue of the Cubs' 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Padres are two games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
Both the Padres and Dodgers are 6-8 this month.
An abbreviated performance Tuesday by Michael King -- who gave up all eight runs in three-plus innings --- increases the need for another solid outing Wednesday from Pivetta, who is winless in two starts this month despite a 1.38 ERA.
Pivetta didn't factor into the decision in his most recent start last Wednesday, when he tossed seven scoreless innings in San Diego's 2-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
"We know Nick's going to meet the challenge," Padres manager Mike Shildt said following that defeat. "He met it tonight; clearly we expect and have a lot of confidence in him being able to do it in the future."
Peterson got a no-decision in his most recent start last Thursday, when he gave up three runs over five innings as the Mets fell to the Philadelphia Phillies 6-4.
Peterson is 1-2 with a 3.26 ERA in four career games (three starts) against the Padres. Pivetta is 4-2 with a 5.23 ERA in 10 games (eight starts) against the Mets.
--Field Level Media
