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    Saturday, April 27, 2024

    Harvey hits his first bump in the road

    Matt Harvey of the Mets throws a pitch in the first inning of Sunday's game against the Padres at San Diego Mystic's Harvey took the loss as the Padres won 7-3. He allowed eight hits and five runs over five innings.

    San Diego - Matt Harvey did not throw on Sunday like the rookie pitcher who was so impressive in his first two major league starts.

    Mystic's Harvey allowed two-run homers to Chase Headley and Yonder Alonso and the San Diego Padres got a 7-3 win over the New York Mets.

    Headley's homer, his 15th, came in the first inning. Alonso hit his sixth homer in the third to give San Diego a 5-0 lead.

    Harvey (1-2), who set a Mets record when he struck out 11 in his debut on July 26, struggled in his third start. He allowed five runs and eight hits, including seven for extra bases. He walked one and struck out five in five innings.

    "When you make a mistake, they're going to hit it," Harvey said. "(Sunday) they did and I just need to do a better job."

    Harvey, a 2007 Fitch High School graduate, struggled with control problems throughout his start against the Padres.

    "It was one of those days where I couldn't find the strike zone and when I did, it wasn't quality," Harvey said. "I wasn't executing like the last two starts."

    Harvey made his major-league debut with a 3-1 win at Arizona when he allowed no runs in 5 1-3 innings. He lost his second start 4-1 at San Francisco on Tuesday despite allowing two earned runs in six innings.

    "Obviously, the command of the fastball was the big difference," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "I just thought one of the things he was effective with the last two times was locating his fastball down in the zone. (Sunday) he was more in middle of the zone."

    The Padres made an effort to be aggressive against Harvey after watching his first two starts.

    "We knew that he was a guy who likes his fastball and was going to be around the plate," Alonso said. "We were hopeful that he was going to leave them up and we could put good swings on them."

    Carlos Quentin homered off reliever Ramon Ramirez. The solo shot in the seventh was his 11th. Quentin also had an RBI double.

    Jason Marquis (5-6) gave up Ruben Tejada's single to open the game and then retired 14 consecutive batters until he issued a leadoff walk to Mike Baxter in the sixth.

    Marquis rebounded from one of his worst outings of the season by holding the Mets to three runs and four hits in 6 1-3 innings. He had five strikeouts and one walk.

    In his previous start, Marquis allowed seven runs and a season high-tying three homers in 6 1-3 innings of Tuesday's 7-6 loss at Cincinnati.

    New York completed its season-high 11-game West Coast road trip with a 6-5 record.

    Ronny Cedeno hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the sixth one out after Baxter's walk. It was the Mets' eighth pinch-hit home run.

    Tejada's hit to lead off the game extended his career-high hitting streak to 11 games.

    • Mets LHP Johan Santana pitched three scoreless innings in a rehab start for Class A Brooklyn on Sunday. Santana allowed one hit with one walk and three strikeouts against Auburn. Santana was placed on the DL on July 21 with a right ankle sprain. ... Highly touted Mets prospect right-handed pitcher Zack Wheeler will have to wait to make his debut with Triple-A Buffalo. Wheeler's scheduled start on Sunday night was rained out. He will start the first game of today's doubleheader. Wheeler, acquired from San Francisco last summer for outfielder Carlos Beltran and cash, was 10-6 with a 3.26 ERA in 19 starts for Double-A Binghamton. ... The Mets are off today before hosting Miami on Tuesday.

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