SAN DIEGO — Eduardo Escobar had singled, doubled and homered when he came to the plate in the ninth inning for one final at-bat Monday night. 

Facing lefty Tim Hill, he quickly fell behind in the count before slicing a shot to right field. The ball eluded Nomar Mazara’s outstretched glove and Escobar kept running. Triple. 

Escobar’s monster night was complete as he became the first Mets player in a decade to hit for the cycle, leading his team’s 11-5 victory over the Padres at Petco Park. 

The veteran infielder finished 4-for-5 with six RBIs in becoming the first Mets player since Scott Hairston in 2012 to hit for the cycle. 

The Mets won their third straight and improved to 3-2 on the West Coast trip. They jumped on lefty Blake Snell early and never relented in moving a season-high 19 games above .500. 

Escobar’s two-run homer in the eighth against Craig Stammen buried the Padres in a 7-2 hole. He returned in the ninth for the knockout punch after the Padres had sliced the lead to two runs. 

The veteran infielder is 20-for-60 (.333) over his last 14 games, adding to a lineup that is receiving big production from Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor, among others. 

With the bullpen on fumes after a strenuous weekend at Dodger Stadium that included an extra-inning game in the finale, Carlos Carrasco’s job was to pitch deep into the night, allowing little. 

On both counts, the veteran right-hander delivered. Carrasco’s performance, in which he allowed two earned runs on five hits and struck out 10 over 105 pitches, was his third this season of at least seven innings. Entering the day only seven other pitchers this season had multiple starts of at least seven innings. 

Buck Showalter certainly appreciated the length after emptying his bullpen a day earlier in a 10-inning victory over the Dodgers that included a blown save by Seth Lugo in the ninth. 

The Padres got close late, using Luke Voit’s three-run homer in the eighth against Drew Smith to pull within 7-5. But Smith got the final out in the inning before pitching a scoreless ninth. Two of the runs in the eighth were charged to Joely Rodriguez, who allowed two of the three batters he faced to reach base. 

The Mets sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning against Padres’ starter Blake Snell and gave Carrasco a three-run lead before he even threw a pitch. Escobar stroked a two-run single after Snell had walked three straight batters, including J.D. Davis with the bases loaded. 

Starling Marte started the rally with a single and stolen base. After Lindor struck out for the second out, Snell, the 2017 AL Cy Young Award winner with the Rays, walked Alonso, Mark Canha and Davis in succession. By the time he retired Jeff McNeil to conclude the inning, Snell had thrown 43 pitches. 

Escobar’s double leading off the fourth and Brandon Nimmo’s two-out RBI single extended the Mets’ lead to 4-1. Nimmo remained in the lineup a day after he was drilled by a pitch in the right hand. 

Manny Machado’s throwing error in the fifth on Alonso’s grounder led to the Mets knocking out Snell and scoring an unearned run. Canha doubled Alonso to third and Davis’ sacrifice fly gave the Mets a 5-1 lead. Canha was thrown out trying to reach third on Davis’ fly to center. 

Snell allowed five runs, one unearned, over four-plus innings on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks. The left-hander boosted his ERA to 5.68 in four starts after opening the season on the injured list. 

Carrasco’s last act was to escape the seventh. After recording two quick outs he surrendered a single to Ha-Seong Kim and an RBI double to Mazara. After a visit to the mound from pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, the right-hander struck out Jorge Alfaro on pitch No. 105.