The Padres do not have any former Mets on their active roster, but have two players who have been traded for a current or former Met. The following is a list of some the Padres’ most significant Mets connections:

Wil Myers: The Padres’ first baseman has been involved in two blockbuster trades in his young career, so it may be easy to forget Mets’ backstop René Rivera was part of the three-team Myers-Souza-Ross/Turner deal between the Padres, Rays, and Nationals. Rivera was part of the package sent to Tampa Bay alongside Steven Souza.

Chase d’Arnaud: Making his second appearance on one of these lists, after appearing on the Braves’ edition a few weeks ago, the elder d’Arnaud brother has been caught up in a game of waiver claim hot potato. He’s now with the Padres, his third club in a month.

Jarred Cosart: The Padres’ pitcher was dealt by the Phillies with Josh Zeid, Domingo Santana, and Jon Singleton for the Astros’ Hunter Pence at the 2011 trade deadline. Zeid spent some time in the Mets’ system last year, but did not make an MLB appearance.

Hometown Connections: Padres hitters Luis Torrens and Yangervis Solarte both reign from Valencia, Venezuela, which is where Wilmer Flores was also born.

Campus Connections: Jerry Blevins and Craig Stammen played together at the University of Dayton from 2003-2004. Both had relatively unappealing underclassmen seasons before improving enough their senior years to get drafted in the middle rounds (Blevins in the 17th round in 2004 and Stammen in the 12th in 2005) in back-to-back drafts.

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It was a bit of a shock after Matz’s solid first inning, when the only runner reached on a short infield grounder to David Wright that was initially ruled an out. Back-to-back walks to lead off the second came back to haunt Matz, as the 24-year-old was then peppered by singles from J.T. Realmuto, Adeiny Hechavarria, Dee Gordon, and Christian Yelich. It was a “death by a thousand paper cuts” situation as the Marlins built their lead to 5-0 before Stanton’s climactic clout. At 1 2/3 innings, it was the shortest Mets start not caused by injury or illness since Collin McHugh on September 25, 2012 (Kelly Shoppach was the catcher; yeah, it had been awhile).

Perhaps it shouldn’t be such a surprise to see Matz struggle. After all, for as comfortable as fans felt with him, he still only had nine major-league starts to his name, including the playoffs. None of them were particularly bad starts, and even the best of pitchers come across those every now and then. It also didn’t help that Matz had not pitched in any kind of game in 10 days, so there might have been rust. One bad start is not a problem. As long as Matz bounces back over his next few outings, there should be minimal concerns.

Nonetheless, the long day for the bullpen did not come at an opportune time for the 2-4 Mets. With Jacob deGrom on his way to Florida to be with his wife for their son’s birth, the team had hoped to backdate a potential DL stint for his lat tightness rather than using his paternity leave. Unfortunately, all of Hansel Robles, Antonio Bastardo, Addison Reed, Jeurys Familia, and Jerry Blevins saw time in this game, with Robles and Bastardo surrendering the Marlins’ other three runs. A call-up for a fresh arm like Sean Gilmartin seems to be on the horizon.

The game felt pretty much over in a hurry with the Mets behind 8-0 after three innings. However, Jarred Cosart was not particularly sharp for the Marlins either. Wright led off the fourth with a double and scored on a single by Yoenis Cespedes. Lucas Duda lined a base hit to move Cespedes to third, who crossed home plate on a wild pitch. A third run scored on a fielder’s choice before Cosart escaped.

Further wildness from Cosart in the fifth put runners on first and second with two outs for Duda. If the lefty squared one up from Cosart, he could have made it a two-run game, but alas, Marlins manager Don Mattingly felt so uneasy that he pulled Cosart one out short of qualifying for the win. Chris Narveson entered to strike out Duda and the threat was over. The Marlins increased their lead to 10-3, but the Mets had another chance to get back into it with Alejandro De Aza pinch-hitting with two men on in the bottom of the seventh. Unperturbed, Dustin McGowan fanned him to end the inning, and the Mets never threatened again.

It took an exhausting three hours and forty-five minutes to finish the game, though it certainly felt longer. They do have a matinee in this three-game set; thankfully it is not tomorrow, so they can get some sleep. The Mets and Marlins will play the second game of this series tomorrow night with a marquee pitching matchup: Noah Syndergaard against Jose Fernandez. Grab your popcorn.

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