Five takeaways as Eduardo Escobar hits for cycle to lead Mets to victory over Padres

A cooler full of ice water is unlikely to cool off Eduardo Escobar or the piping hot Mets offense.

Escobar was doused by his teammates after becoming the 11th Mets player in franchise history to hit for the cycle in an 11-5 victory over the Padres on Monday night at Petco Park.

Every member of the Mets lineup collected a hit as they piled on 16 hits to win their third straight game and improve to 38-19.

Here's what stood out in another memorable Mets win in their series opener against the Padres on Monday night.

Back in a groove

An early May slump seems like it is way behind Escobar.

In his last 14 games, Escobar is 20-of-60 (.333) with three home runs, 15 RBI and 10 runs. He has come out motivated after beginning the month of May in a 3-for-39 rut.

Escobar is swinging one of the Mets' hottest bats in the beginning of June. Escobar kicked off the three-game series with the Padres by going 4-for-5 with a home run, triple, double, three runs and six RBI in the victory.

Escobar's big blast came on a sinker over the heart of the plate in the eighth inning off Padres reliever Craig Stammen. The Mets' third baseman's shot traveled 405 feet into the right-field seats.

As he achieved history with a triple for the cycle in the top of the ninth, he drove in Pete Alonso and Mark Canha to grow the Mets' lead to 9-5.

After that slump dropped Escobar's average to .202, he is now slashing .241/.311/.414 with five home runs, 24 RBI and 27 runs.

Tomas Nido and Jeff McNeil added RBIs in the ninth.

Walk this way

Throughout the season, the Mets' calling card has been passing the baton and grinding at-bats.

They lead Major League Baseball with a .338 on-base percentage and 110 RBI with two outs.

That couldn't be more evident than in the first inning against Padres starter Blake Snell.

After Starling Marte knocked a single and notched his second stolen base of the season, the Mets pressed Snell with two outs. Pete Alonso walked on five pitches before Mark Canha and then J.D. Davis each drew walks after falling behind 0-2.

Davis' walk came with the bases loaded for the first run. Eduardo Escobar then ripped a two-run opposite-field single into right to push the Mets ahead 3-0.

The Mets forced Snell to throw 43 pitches in the first inning with their two-out rally. It eventually led to Snell only pitching four innings and allowing four earned runs on seven hits and three walks.

Long toss

One day after the Mets needed to use five relievers to take down the Dodgers, Carlos Carrasco was ready to save the bullpen.

He delivered one of his best starts of the season, striking out a season high 10 batters a season and using 105 pitches to get through seven innings with two earned runs allowed on five hits. The victory helped him improve to 7-1 on the season, matching the Dodgers' Tyler Anderson for most wins in MLB.

Carrasco deployed an even spread of fastballs, changeups and sliders and was able to get seven whiffs on both his changeup and slider.

The first Padres damage off Carrasco came when two of those hits came in the third inning. Jorge Alfaro led off the inning with a double down the right-field line and Jurickson Profar knocked an RBI single to left.

Carrasco gave up a double to Profar to begin the game but was able to strike out Jake Cronenworth and Luke Voit and get Manny Machado to ground out.

After registering seven straight outs, back-to-back hits from Ha-Seong Kim and Nomar Mazara helped the Padres cut their deficit to 5-2.

The Mets starter tossed four innings without giving up a hit.

Backup at first base

For the first time since 2018 with the Astros, Davis was in the field at first base.

Davis spent 18 games at the position as a member of the Astros but had never played there since joining the Mets.

Buck Showalter wanted to find a way to keep the hot-hitting Davis in the lineup. He was coming off having driven in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning in a 5-4 win over the Dodgers on Sunday.

Davis was 13-of-35 (.371) with six runs, four RBI and four doubles in his last 10 games entering Monday. He added a pair of RBI against the Padres and looked steady on defense.

He was tested in the first two innings, forced to scoop up skipping throws from both Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil with no problem.

Dominic Smith, who began the season as the backup first baseman, is 4-for-14 (.288) with a home run, three RBI and three runs in three games with Class AAA Syracuse.

Helping hand

Brandon Nimmo has shown his toughness over the last two days.

Nimmo was still occupying center field and the leadoff spot in the Mets' lineup one day after he was hit by a pitch on his right hand by the Dodgers' Caleb Ferguson during the Mets'  5-4 extra-inning win on Sunday.

It was a pleasant sight for Mets fans to see Nimmo back out there on Monday, especially after the Mets outfielder missed three games with a sprained wrist on the same hand last week.

Nimmo was 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI against the Padres. He was also hit by another pitch; this time a ball glanced off his back foot.

The Mets have been hit an MLB-high 37 times this season.

Andrew Tredinnick is the Mets beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Mets analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app. 

Email: atredinnick@gannett.com Twitter: @andrew_tred

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Five takeaways as the Mets roll to series-opening win over Padres