Mets fall to Padres on Freddy Fermin's homer off Austin Warren
Padres' Freddy Fermin reacts after hitting a two-run home run against the Mets in the seventh inning of a baseball game on Saturday, June 6, 2026, in San Diego. Credit: AP/Derrick Tuskan
SAN DIEGO — Even in the worst of times, the Mets’ bullpen has been dependable — a group that, while not perfect, seemed mostly immune to the team’s various ills.
Saturday was the exception.
With two outs in the seventh, Freddy Fermin hit a go-ahead two-run homer against Austin Warren’s first-pitch sinker as the Padres stole one from the Mets, 3-2, at Petco Park. It was his first homer of the year. “I didn’t do my job, plain and simple,” said Warren, who has a 2.01 ERA. “I got it in. He just made a good swing . . . [I] made a good pitch and he made a better swing.”
The mistake wasted an encouragingly strong performance from Nolan McLean, who allowed one run, three hits and three walks with five strikeouts in six innings. Brett Baty had an RBI single in the second and Marcus Semien homered in the seventh — a 394-foot shot off Bradgley Rodriguez — to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.
The Padres’ Sung-Mun Song led off the third with a walk and stole second. With one out, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a chopper that looked destined to be an easy out, but it ricocheted off second base, took a wild hop and tied it at 1-1.
Though McLean looked better in his previous start against the Marlins, he had two clunkers before that, allowing 16 runs (13 earned) with four homers, four walks, 11 strikeouts and four hit batsmen in nine innings.
The bullpen entered the day with a 3.19 ERA, ranked fifth in MLB and third in the National League, with an MLB -leading 280 strikeouts.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
