SAN DIEGO — For his next trick, Antonio Bastardo will skydive without a parachute.
The veteran reliever probably felt as if he could pull off that stunt Sunday, after walking the proverbial tightrope without a net. All the lefty did was enter a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning with nobody out and escape without a run scoring to preserve the Mets’ 4-3 victory over the Padres at Petco Park.
Matt Harvey had his best outing of the season, but the hero was Bastardo, who made his most important pitches since arriving to the Mets last offseason on a two-year deal worth $12 million.
“If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think we would have won the ballgame,” Yoenis Cespedes said after his team beat the Padres for the second straight game to finish with a split in the series.
The Mets moved into first place, a half-game ahead of the Nationals in the NL East, but that is barely a blip on the radar right now.
“It’s only May,” manager Terry Collins said. “We’ve got a long way to go.”
Bastardo, facing three straight righties, threw exclusively fastballs and got the Padres to chase.
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After Jerry Blevins and Addison Reed combined to allow three straight singles to begin the eighth, Bastardo — who hadn’t pitched since Tuesday — entered and worked his magic: Derek Norris struck out, Melvin Upton Jr. popped out to first base, and Alexei Ramirez struck out. Jeurys Familia then recorded his 10th save in as many chances with a perfect ninth.
“The goal was to not give up a hit,” Bastardo said. “I just tried to throw every pitch with intensity and just not leave anything for the hitters. At some point, they were waiting for something else, but we still got them with the fastball.”
Bastardo, according to Collins, was the best option against the three righties because of solid career numbers against players such as Norris and Upton.
“If he throws strikes, he’s got a chance to get a pop-up or certainly a strikeout and get out of the inning,” Collins said. “I didn’t expect him to strike two guys out, but he certainly did that.”
This one wasn’t a cakewalk for the Mets even before the eighth-inning drama, as Jim Henderson balked home a run in the seventh to pull the Padres within one before escaping further trouble.
In his sharpest outing of the season, Harvey (3-4) went six innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits with a season-high 10 strikeouts and two walks. The best sign for the Mets might have been his scoreless sixth after surrendering a two-run homer to Christian Bethancourt an inning earlier.
“All the work that we’ve been putting in, it’s just going out there and attacking the zone and going after guys,” Harvey said. “It was definitely a difference from the last couple of starts. I felt good on the mound and was able to execute pitches when I needed.”
Though the Mets had a streak of six straight series victories snapped, they managed a split in the four-game set and will continue their longest road trip of the season Monday in Los Angeles.
Harvey had appeared to escape a fifth inning in which the Padres already had scored twice to slice the Mets’ lead to 3-2 but bounced strike three to San Diego pitcher Andrew Cashner, who raced to first base as Kevin Plawecki chased the pitch to the backstop. Cashner then was thrown out at the plate to end the inning after a Jon Jay double.
Though Cashner appeared to elude Plaweki’s tag — fans chanted “safe” as the play was reviewed — the call was upheld, preserving the Mets’ lead.
Harvey’s overall performance was more than acceptable.
“It’s the best command I have seen him have this year,” Collins said. “He’s got such good stuff that they are swinging because they don’t want to get behind. When he made pitches, he got easy outs, and that’s how he normally pitches.”