July 29th 2015 -- Padres 7, Mets 3

Wednesday night at Citi Field, Bartolo Colon had his shortest outing since 2012 as the Padres beat the Mets 7-3. Lucas Duda tried to make it a game all by himself as he hit 3 solo homers in the game his 16th, 17th and 18th on the year. It's the 11th time in Mets history a Met has hit 3 homers in a game..but only the 2nd time in their history where it's been done at  home. Both done this year. First by Nieuwenhuis 3 weeks ago and now Duda. Duda had all 3 RBI in the loss. Colon didn’t have it from the get go in this one.  The Padres took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a RBI single by Matt Kemp and a sac-fly by Justin Upton.  In the 2^nd the Friars took a 4-0 lead on RBI singles by Will Venable and Yangervis Solarte. The Mets got a run back in the bottom of the 2^nd when Lucas Duda hit # 16.  In the third, the Padres sent Colon to the showers as he yielded back to back homers by Justin Upton (17) and Yonder Alonzo (4) to make it 6-1. Colon lasted just 2 1/3 allowing 10 hits, all 6 runs (earned) while striking out 1. Alex Torres pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief. Bobby Parnell was accountable for run # 7 when Upton got his 3^rd RBI of the game on a single in the 6^th. Lucas Duda continued his homer tear with a 2^nd solo shot in the 6th, #17 off Kevin Quackenbush, Duda hit his 18th in the 9th to cap the scoring. Gilmartin pitched a pair of scoreless innings and Hansel Robles pitched a scoreless 9^th.  Colon is now 9-10. Tyson Ross improves to 7-8.With the loss the Mets fall to 52-49 on the year and 35-17 at home. That combined with a Nationals win, the Mets drop a game and are now 2 games out of 1^st in the NL East. Thursday afternoon the Mets finish the season series with the Padres.  Jon Niese (5-9 3.75) goes for the Mets; Andrew Cashner (4-10 3.93) goes for San Diego.