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Despaigne dazzles as Padres beat Mets in final at-bat

Jul 21, 2014 - 4:22 AM San Diego, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Josh Edgin couldn't handle Seth Smith's chopper back to the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning as Cameron Maybin scored the winning run in the San Diego Padres' 2-1 win over the New York Mets.

Carlos Quentin drew a leadoff, pinch-hit walk to start the ninth against Vic Black (2-3) and Maybin came on as a pinch-runner. Black's error on Alexi Amarista's sacrifice put Maybin on second, and he reached third when Chase Headley grounded into a double play.

Edgin then came on to face the lefty Smith, who worked the count full before delivering his third career game-winning hit, an infield single that he narrowly beat out.

Smith went 3-for-5 to help San Diego win the rubber match of this three-game set from Petco Park.

Odrisamer Despaigne pitched 7 2/3 no-hit innings in just his fifth major league start for the Padres. The 27-year-old Cuban's final line included a run on two hits and three walks.

Despaigne's major league career was off to a terrific start even before Sunday's near-historic outing. In his first four starts in the bigs -- all against NL West opponents -- he had only surrendered four runs on 18 hits.

"When you vary your speeds from 65-to-93, that's tough to get a good pitch to hit," Mets manager Terry Collins said of Despaigne.

The Padres remain the only active franchise without a no-hitter.

"He had all four pitches working from different angles. His stuff was good enough to keep them off-balance," Padres manager Bud Black said.

Despaigne's no-hit bid overshadowed Mets starter Zack Wheeler, who fanned seven in six innings of work. Wheeler allowed just a run on eight hits to absorb the hard-luck loss.

Wheeler has now given up one run in each of his last four starts.

Despaigne needed just 75 pitches to get through the first six innings, but his control slipped as the game went on.

Lucas Duda was hit in the foot by a breaking ball and Bobby Abreu and Juan Lagares drew consecutive walks to load the bases. Despaigne's 100th pitch of the contest got Ruben Tejada to ground back to the mound, ending the seventh.

Yasmani Grandal's solo home run in the fourth inning plated the game's only run until the top of the eighth, when New York finally broke through and tied it.

Despaigne appeared to have regained his control, striking out the first two batters he faced in the eighth before Daniel Murphy went the other way, doubling to left-center to break up the no-hitter. With the pressure of getting no-hit no longer lingering, David Wright followed Murphy's two-bagger with a single up the middle, plating the tying run.

Wright had been 0-for-22 against the Padres this season prior to that at-bat.

Joaquin Benoit (4-2) pitched a clean top of the ninth to earn the win.

Game Notes

Wheeler is unbeaten over his last four starts ... San Diego outhit New York, 11-3 ... Smith's last walkoff came on July 6, 2010, against St. Louis ... San Diego went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, stranding 11 ... Will Venable, Jake Goebbert and Chris Nelson all had two hits for the Padres.