Mets push win streak to 6 with big 10th inning

SAN DIEGO – Two teams with impressive payrolls, sky-high expectations and dueling disappointing first halves met on Friday night at Petco Park. The Mets and Padres also brought winning streaks into their final series before the All-Star break.

Predictably, these two squads that see themselves in each other went late into the night before the Mets collected the win, 7-5, in 10 innings.

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New York’s triumph came by inches, because that’s how close Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth was to flagging down two key Mets hits in the extra frame.

Jeff McNeil delivered the first blow when he doubled down the first-base line with a two-hopper that was just outside Cronenworth’s reach. That scored Starling Marte, who was placed at second base as the automatic runner.

Francisco Álvarez, who has played a key role in the Mets’ surge of late, then bounced a ball toward Cronenworth’s left side that trickled off his glove for an RBI single, scoring McNeil. It was Alvarez’s fourth single of the game, the Mets were up 5-3 and they weren’t done.

Francisco Lindor delivered the final punch when he drove in two more with a single with his third hit.

And just like that the Mets have a half-dozen straight wins, and the mood is jovial in the clubhouse.

“The belief has always been there: We know we are a good team,’’ McNeil said. “We were just waiting for this moment, and we know this is possible.

“Everything is clicking and going well right now. We all said it was there, and we were just waiting for it to come out and it has.’’

The Mets wobbled in the 10th when David Robertson gave up a one-out, two-run homer to Manny Machado. But the right-hander struck out Xander Bogaerts and got a flyout by Cronenworth to end the Padres’ three-game win streak.

New York did not capitalize on a grand opportunity in the ninth, when Nick Martinez struggled with his command.

Lindor produced a one-out single and then stole second on a nifty headfirst slide, with the Padres challenging the verdict that he didn’t avoid Rougned Odor’s tag. The call was upheld and Martinez promptly issued free passes to Pete Alonso and Daniel Vogelbach to load the bases.

But Marte hit a comebacker to Martinez, who quickly fired the ball to catcher Gary Sánchez, who relayed it to first for the inning-ending double play.

Vogelbach drew the Mets even at 3-3 in the fifth, when he notched his second three-hit game as a Met. He drove in Lindor, who walked and stole second.

Lindor’s speed revealed another one of his skills, complementing his bat that left sizzling Arizona but didn’t cool.

One game after collecting five hits to lead the Mets to their three-game sweep over the D-backs, Lindor smacked his 19th homer by turning on Yu Darvish’s 96.2 mph sinker in the third inning.

Lindor’s seventh blast in his last 18 games, sliced the Mets’ deficit to 3-2.

The Mets seized the lead in the first when the first of Vogelbach’s two infield singles scored Brandon Nimmo after his game-opening walk. But Darvish wiggled from extensive damage by inducing Marte into an inning-ending double play.

The Padres answered with two runs, one of which was unearned, when Luis Guillorme booted a ball at third. They added another in the second on Trent Grisham’s RBI single.

The Mets’ Justin Verlander didn’t have his top-shelf stuff but he worked six innings, surrendering three runs (two earned) on five hits and three walks. He struck out two.

“It seems like a lot of things haven’t been going our way,’’ Verlander said. “So it’s nice to see that change around a little bit.’’

The Mets trekked from the desert to the sea, but what hasn’t changed is their winning ways.

“Everybody got off the plane last night and went ‘whew,’’’ manager Buck Showalter said. “That was a furnace over there, and San Diego is a very comfortable place for everybody.’’

Especially for a bunch who one week ago had been kicked to the curb. The Mets have responded with a winning run before the All-Star break that eclipses anything they had done previously.

“We fought back and battled all night,’’ McNeil said. “It feels good to get that one.’’