NEW YORK

On a night that was soggy and kind of a slog, the Mets beat the Padres, 2-1.

Rookie Jackson Merrill hit his third home run in a span of five at-bats, and Matt Waldron allowed two runs on three hits over seven innings.

But two of those hits were in the same inning. And the Padres offense supplemented Merrill’s blast with just four other hits, none in the same inning.

A downpour  delayed the game’s start by an hour and five minutes.

It began raining again in the third inning, just about the time the Mets were taking a 2-0 lead on a walk, a two-out single and a double down the right field line by J.D. Martinez.

The rain — and, notably, a wind blowing across and in from the outfield— had died down when Merrill launched a 1-1 slider to the gap in right field. The ball just kept sailing, until it came down on top of the wall and bounced beyond it.

Luis Arraez’s single leading off the sixth inning was the Padres’ only hit over the final four innings, as their winning streak ended at three games.

The hit by Martinez was the Mets’ last off Waldron (4-6, 3.66).

Arraez’s sixth-inning single, his second of the night prompted Mets manager Carlos Mendoza to replace starter Sean Manaea (4-3, 4.11). The left-hander, who played for the Padres in 2022, had thrown 90 pitches.

With Adam Ottavino in the game, Arraez was caught stealing second when he slid past the bag.

Ottavino retired Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jurickson Profar to end the sixth and Manny Machado and Donovan Solano to start the seventh. Left-hander Jake Diekman came in to face

Jake Cronenworth, who he hit in the arm before walking Ha-Seong Kim. But Merrill lofted a lazy fly ball down the left line on the first pitch he saw to end the threat.

The Padres went down in order in the eighth inning against Sean Reid-Foley.

Jurickson Profar led off the ninth inning with his second single of the game, and pinch-runner José Azocar stole second base. Mets closer Edwin Diaz struck out Machado and gotSolano on a groundout to second base, which moved Azocar to third before Kim struck out to end the game.