Rookies help Padres knock off Mets

Padres 7 Mets 5

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 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.

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.”