EditorsNote: rewords last graf
Robinson Cano snapped out of his season-long doldrums by producing the first three-homer game of his career Tuesday night, accounting for all of the New York Mets' runs in a 5-2 win over the visiting San Diego Padres.
The Mets improved to 6-4 since the All-Star break. The Padres are 2-8 in the second half.
Cano, who was acquired from the Seattle Mariners along with Edwin Diaz in a blockbuster trade on Dec. 3, entered Tuesday batting just .243 with six homers and 22 RBIs in 74 games, including .318 with one homer and six RBIs in 28 home games.
But after singling in his first at-bat, Cano hit a solo homer leading off the fourth against Chris Paddack (6-5) to break a scoreless tie. It was Cano's first homer at Citi Field since April 6 against the Washington Nationals.
Cano added a two-run homer off Paddack in the sixth for his 23rd multi-homer game -- his first since June 30, 2017.
In the seventh, Cano hit the first pitch he saw from Logan Allen deep into the right field seats to complete the 14th three-homer game in Mets history and only the third in a home contest after Kirk Nieuwenhuis (July 12, 2015) and Lucas Duda (July 29, 2015).
Cano wasn't the only 36-year-old who thrived on an evening that featured a battle between Paddack and the player he's chasing for the National League Rookie of the Year award, Mets first baseman Pete Alonso.
Jason Vargas (5-5) earned the win after allowing just one hit -- a fifth-inning single by Eric Hosmer -- and four walks while striking out eight over six scoreless innings. It was just the third time in 235 big-league starts that Vargas has pitched at least six innings and allowed only one hit.
Hunter Renfroe lofted a sacrifice fly in the eighth for the Padres, who threatened again in the ninth. Justin Wilson walked the only batters he faced, Hosmer and Francisco Mejia. Diaz entered and earned his 22nd save despite giving up a two-out RBI double to Fernando Tatis Jr.
Paddack allowed three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out four over five-plus innings. In three plate appearances against Paddack, Alonso went 0-for-1 with two walks. Alonso also walked in the seventh against Allen.
--Field Level Media
