Padres knock off Mets 7-5 behind rookies Margot, Coleman

SAN DIEGO -- San Diego Padres manager Andy Green called it "an ugly, sloppy" performance by his team Thursday night.

Fortunately for the Padres, several players had big moments to cook up a 7-5 victory over the New York Mets.

Manuel Margot came within a triple of the cycle, and fellow rookie Dusty Coleman hit his first major league home run.

Reliever Phil Maton restored order in the seventh inning before striking out the side in the eighth.

Closer Brad Hand, a constant subject of published trade speculation, ran his scoreless streak to 18 1/3 innings and bagged his fifth save as scouts from other teams looked on.

Despite the happy outcome, Green ticked off several mistakes by his young team: Jabari Blash's "circuitous" route that turned a fly ball into a double, Wil Myers getting a tardy "secondary lead" before he was thrown out at home plate on a double-steal, Luis Torrens trotting off the field with two outs, and Corey Spangenberg bunting the ball to the pitcher, getting a teammate thrown out at home.

"You love the fact that you can say you played an ugly baseball game and you won," Green said.

Margot homered and doubled while maintaining a hot streak that has come since his wife gave birth to their son, Diamond, last week.

"When you become a dad, you get more power, you get more pop," the center fielder said jokingly.

Coleman is having a big week, too.

The 30-year-old minor league veteran was promoted from Triple-A El Paso to replace injured shortstop Erick Aybar and collected his first major league hit Wednesday.

Back in the lineup Thursday, he stretched the lead to 7-1 in the fifth with a three-run blow.

The righty drove reliever Tyler Pill's pitch an estimated 417 feet, beyond the right-center wall.

"You love seeing guys grinding so hard their entire life to have moments like that. He's that type of guy," Green said.

Coleman appeared briefly with the 2015 Kansas City Royals, who awarded him with a World Series ring.

Having played in over 900 minor league games, he said he had only fleeting doubts about ever getting a major league hit.

"As long as somebody was going to give me an opportunity to pull a jersey on and provide for my family, I was going to keep going," Coleman said.

Luis Perdomo (5-5) got the victory after pitching into the seventh.

The Mets lost for the third time in nine games despite Jay Bruce's 26th home run, a two-run blow off Jose Torres that drew them to 7-5 in a four-run seventh.

ROUGH DEBUT

The Padres took a 4-1 lead against rookie Chris Flexen, a 23-year-old making his big league debut for the injured Zack Wheeler.

Flexen, promoted directly from Double-A Binghamton, gave up a home run on his third pitch, an errant 0-2 curveball that Margot pulled for his seventh homer and fourth to lead off a game.

Mets fielders erased two Padres baserunners at home plate later in the first but Flexen (0-1) continued to misfire.

The righty hit Coleman in the back with an 0-2 pitch in the second and walked No. 8 hitter Torrens to load the bases.

With one out, Margot belted a chest-high fastball off the center-field wall for a double that brought in three runs, the final one unearned.

Flexen threw 69 pitches in three innings, allowing five hits and four walks.

"It was a tough one to swallow there, a tough outing," Flexen said, "but still living the dream here. The ultimate goal is to stay here. You learn from those mistakes."

ONE SHORT

Margot bunted for his third hit, bringing him a triple shy of becoming the third player in Padres history to hit for the cycle.

He said he was going for the triple when he grounded out in his final at-bat.

REVIEW TIMES TWO

The two early plays at home plate involved Mets catcher Travis d'Arnaud and were reviewed in the bottom of the first. Overturned was umpire Vic Carapazza's call that Padres baserunner Carlos Asuaje had beaten D'arnaud's tag after Flexen fielded a bunt and threw home.

Then it was confirmed that d'Arnaud had tagged Myers for the third out on an attempted double-steal. The reviews lasted 80 and 95 seconds, respectively.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Mets: OF Yoenis Cespedes, plagued this year by hamstring and quad ailments, told the New York Post he plans to lose about 15 pounds this offseason and also to take up yoga. Cespedes said he bulked up too much last offseason.

Padres: 3B-2B Yangervis Solarte played second base Thursday with Triple-A El Paso to begin his rehab from an oblique injury that has sidelined him the past 29 games. ... C Austin Hedges, sidelined by concussion symptoms, is expected to rejoin the team Sunday or early next week.

UP NEXT

Mets: RHP Rafael Montero (1-7, 5.19 ERA) will be coming off a season-high seven-inning performance Friday against the Seattle Mariners. In the outing Sunday, he allowed three runs to the Oakland A's.

Padres: LHP Travis Wood (1-3, 6.91 ERA) will make his Padres debut and fourth start of the season Friday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Wood was acquired Monday from the Kansas City Royals.