NEW YORK (AP) — Manny Machado hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the fifth inning and the San Diego Padres beat the New York Mets 7-4 on Wednesday night in a matchup of postseason contenders.

With two runners aboard in the ninth, All-Star closer Robert Suarez knocked down Juan Soto’s line drive with his glove and calmy threw to first base for the final out.

Ramón Laureano also homered and Jake Cronenworth had an RBI single for the Padres, who stayed two games behind the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers. San Diego holds the second of three National League wild cards, five games in front of the Mets.

New York remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Arizona for the final NL playoff spot. Cincinnati and San Francisco are both two games back.

Soto homered against his former team, equaling a career high with his 41st of the season. Pete Alonso went deep for the third consecutive game. Starling Marte and Francisco Alvarez also connected for the Mets, and Brett Baty had three hits.

Fernando Tatis Jr. reached base four times and scored twice for San Diego. Machado finished with three hits, including two infield singles.

Adrian Morejon (12-5) replaced Padres starter Nick Pivetta with two outs in the fifth and retired all four batters he faced. Mason Miller pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings and Suarez got three outs for his NL-leading 39th save in 44 opportunities.

Key moment

Soto nearly tied the score at 6 with a two-run homer off Miller in the seventh, but his opposite-field drive on a 102 mph fastball sliced foul by inches in the left-field corner. Miller then struck out Soto and Alonso on sliders to end the threat.

Key stats

Machado gave the Padres a 6-2 lead with his second grand slam this season and the 14th of his career — most among active players. It was the first allowed by Mets starter David Peterson (9-6) in 130 major league games. … San Diego had lost five straight at Citi Field dating to April 2023. … Soto also hit 41 homers for the New York Yankees last year. … Laureano matched his career best of 24 homers set with the Athletics in 2019.

Up next

Prized prospect Jonah Tong (1-2, 8.49 ERA) tries to rebound from a dreadful outing against Texas when he makes his fourth major league start for the Mets in Thursday’s series finale. Randy Vásquez (5-6, 3.72) pitches for the Padres, coming off a career-high nine strikeouts in six shutout innings against Colorado.

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