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Santana ambled off the mound with a 3-1 lead over the San Diego Padres in the eighth inning, which the Mets’ bullpen mishandled.

David Wright hit a two-run home run off Heath Bell with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the Mets a victory over the San Diego Padres at Shea Stadium on Thursday.

With his first pitch Wednesday, Pedro Martinez gave up a 400-foot home run, then a David Wright fielding miscue helped turn a tie game into a defeat.

Fernando Tatis’s pair of home runs carried the Mets over the Padres, but the victory did not come without a scare.

A two-run New York lead turned into a two-run deficit, with the final blow a three-run homer off of Billy Wagner.

The Mets scored only one run for the third straight game, and they lost when Scott Hairston led off the 10th inning with a home run. The Padres have won their last four games by the same score.

The Mets managed to score only one run for the second consecutive game, and could not capitalize on another strong effort by Johan Santana on Friday.

SAN DIEGO — This was a pivotal moment, a pivotal moment in the game, in Mike Pelfrey’s development, and the Mets pitching coach, Rick Peterson, sensed it. He ran out to check on his struggling pitcher, putting his hands on Pelfrey’s shoulders. Staring back, Pelfrey nodded every few seconds like a dutiful son, as if to say, “It’s cool. I got it ...