Padres stormed Citifield with four hours and Darvish Jewel

NEW YORK – After the unexpected defeat of the Max Scherzer family, the Padres have done half the job in the Wild Card series.

Josh Bell and Manny Machado beat two of their four San Diego teammates off Sherzer, and the San Diego New York Mets blew 7-1 Friday night in the opening of their series.

“This is not a game you normally see Max playing, so we were very lucky,” admitted Bob Melvin, head coach.

Yu Darvish tied up the Mets again, while Jurickson Profar and Trent Grisham also called Scherzer off the switch, who was booed in the fifth inning at Citi Field.

The three-time Cy Young winner was disappointed on his first start to the post-season with New York, trailing 7-0, after signing a $130 million contract in December to play in big matches like this for his new equipment.

“Baseball can take you up and down,” Scherzer said.

San Diego needs a win the next two days to take the best streak in three games and face the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team with the best record in the major leagues this season.

Blake Snell will start with the Padres in Game 2 on Saturday, possibly against Mets ace Jacob deGrom. New York had indicated that the outcome of Friday’s game would determine whether DeGrum or Chris Bassett take the pile.

“In a three-game series, each one is huge,” Melvin said.

For Padres, Dominican Juan Soto 4-0, Machado 4-1 with a run scored and RBI.

For the Mets, Puerto Rico Francisco Lindor 3-0, Tomas Nido 2-0. Dominican Starling Mart 4-2. Venezuelan Eduardo Escobar 3-2 with a run scored and RBI, Luis Guillerme 1-0, Francisco Alvarez 1-0.