Padres rally, edge Mets on Jackson Merrill’s walk-off HR

Jackson Merrill cracked a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday, lifting the San Diego Padres to a 3-2 comeback win over the visiting New York Mets and a split of the teams’ four-game series.Merrill got a 2-0 count against reliever Edwin Diaz (5-2) and lined a hanging slider an estimated 379 feet into the right field seats for his 19th homer. It was the All-Star rookie’s second career walk-off blast and marked the sixth time he’s homered to tie or give San Diego the lead in the eighth inning or later.Robert Suarez (8-1) pitched a clean ninth for the win as the Padres ended their seven-game homestand at 4-3 and stayed 1 1/2 games behind Arizona for the National League’s first wild-card spot. New York missed a chance to close within 2 1/2 games of Atlanta for the last NL wild-card position.The Mets were in position to win the series, leading 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth. But Jose Butto walked rookie Mason McCoy with one out and then fed Jurickson Profar a 2-2 sinker over the outer half of the plate that Profar ripped an estimated 390 feet to right field, tying the score with his career-high 21st homer.That swing no-decisioned Jose Quintana, who entered the game with an 8.27 ERA in August but found his form over 6 1/3 scoreless innings. He allowed just four hits and two walks, striking out none.

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