NEW YORK — Yu Darvish threw seven strong innings, the Padres hit four homers off Max Scherzer and San Diego cruised to a 7-1 win over the host New York Mets on Friday in the opener of a best-of-three National League wild-card series.
Josh Bell, Trent Grisham, Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado all went deep for San Diego as Scherzer gave up the most homers he has surrendered in a postseason game. The four tied his highest from any regular-season game, a figure the three-time Cy Young Award reached three times previously.
The fifth-seeded Padres will go for the sweep Saturday night behind left-hander Blake Snell. The Mets had yet to officially announce a starter, but it is expected they will send their co-ace — two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom — to the mound in the must-win contest.
Game 3, if necessary, would be played Sunday night in New York. The winner of the series advances to face the top-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series.
Scherzer ran into trouble immediately when Profar blooped a single on the first pitch of the game before Bell hit a two-out homer well into the left field seats. Grisham hit a solo shot with two outs in the second, after which Scherzer retired seven straight before Ha-Seong Kim singled leading off the fifth.
On consecutive one-out pitches in the fifth, Scherzer gave up a ground-rule double to Austin Nola and a three-run homer to Profar as the Padres extended the lead to 6-0.
After Juan Soto grounded out, Machado homered to left. The All-Star third baseman shouted while sprinting around the bases as New York manager Buck Showalter trudged to the mound to relieve Scherzer, who received a loud chorus of boos on his way to the dugout.
The seven runs were the most ever allowed by Scherzer in a playoff game. His postseason ERA rose from 3.22 to 3.58 after giving up seven runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. Scherzer struck out four without issuing a walk.
Darvish allowed six hits — including Eduardo Escobar’s one-out homer in the fifth — and walked none while fanning four. He is 3-0 a 0.86 ERA in three starts against the Mets this season.
Escobar had two hits, and teammate Starling Marte, who hadn’t played since Sept. 6 due to a broken right middle finger, had two hits and two stolen bases.
Profar and Kim each had two hits for the Padres. Robert Suarez and Luis Garcia each tossed a scoreless inning to close out the win.
–By Jerry Beach, Field Level Media