(New York) Josh Bell and Manny Machado hit two of the Padres’ four homers at the expense of Max Scherzer, and the San Diego club beat the New York Mets 7-1 on Friday in Game 1 of their first-round series .
Posted at 12:13 a.m.
Yu Darvish once again got the better of the Mets as the Padres also got long balls from Jurickson Profar and Trent Grisham. Scherzer, ineffectual in the home duel, was booed when he came off the mound in the fifth inning.
The three-time Cy-Young Trophy winner finished his first playoff game with the Mets with a 7-0 deficit on the board. This is a big disappointment after Scherzer signed a 130 million contract in December to act as an official for his new team’s big games.
The Padres need just one win over the next two days to clinch the best-of-three series. If they succeed, in the next round they will face the Los Angeles Dodgers, the National’s highest-ranked team.
Blake Snell will start Saturday night, likely against Mets ace Jacob deGrom. The New York team had said the outcome of Friday night’s game would determine who between deGrom or Chris Bassitt would be the next starter.
After winning 101 games during the regular season, the second most wins in organizational history, the Mets are suddenly on the brink. In their first playoff game since 2016, the Mets stumbled before a packed house of 41,621.
Eduardo Escobar homered and doubled against Darvish, who has won all three of his starts against the Mets this year.
Japan’s right-handed star was named the National’s September pitcher of the month and picked up where he left off. He allowed six hits in seven innings of work.
Scherzer, 38, allowed seven hits in four and two-thirds innings of work. Like Darvish, he struck out four batters.