Over the winter, Mets made ace Max Scherzer the highest paid player, on an annual basis, in baseball history by giving him a three-year $130 million contract. He was the biggest signing in the second year of owner Steven A. Cohen’s overhaul of a franchise that had endured more than its fair share of headaches and losses over the years.
It worked — to an extent. Despite missing nine weeks of the regular season with injuries, Scherzer, 38, was stellar on the mound. And in the clubhouse, he helped change the Mets’ culture and became one of the key leaders that guided them to their first playoff appearance since 2016.
Tabbed with the Game 1 assignment on Friday in the Mets’ best-of-three wild-card series against the San Diego Padres, Scherzer failed to deliver in his role. In fact, he produced the worst postseason start of his decorated 15-year career in the Mets’ 7-1 loss. In his 27th career postseason appearance, Scherzer coughed up seven runs and four home runs.
And as he trudged off the mound in the fifth inning, Scherzer was showered with boos from the sellout crowd of 41,621 fans at Citi Field. In the span of a few innings, the vibe in Flushing went from deafeningly loud to eerily quiet as the Padres repeatedly rocketed balls into the stands.
“I’m disappointed,” Scherzer said. “Baseball can take you to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and this is one of the lowest of lows.”
Scherzer said he was unsure if his starts and stops this season because of injury had undermined his pitching. His first two starts back from two weeks away with an oblique strain in September were good and then, he said, “the wheels fell off and I don’t know why.” He said his fastball command and movement were off against the Padres.
“If I get another shot to pitch, I know what I need to do,” he added.
The Mets’ fate now falls to their other ace, Jacob deGrom, in Game 2 on Saturday at Citi Field.
“I missed half of the year, and these guys did a great job,” said deGrom, who dealt with a shoulder injury earlier this year and recently overcame a small blister on his throwing hand. “The other starters did a great job holding it down while me and Max missed some time. I wanted to come here and contribute as much as I could. Definitely, it’s a huge goal of mine to keep this thing going.”
For the Padres, Friday’s win was about delivering on expectations from a lineup filled with star hitters that has, at times, struggled to produce consistent offense. That was the case even after the Aug. 2 trade deadline, when they pulled off a blockbuster trade for Washington Nationals superstar Juan Soto and the standout first baseman Josh Bell.
After joining the Padres, Bell hit .192 with three home runs. During that same span, his fellow outfielders Jurickson Profar (.213) and Trent Grisham (.144) also struggled. But against Scherzer, all three looked like sluggers.
With Profar on base after a single in the first inning, Bell clobbered a Scherzer fastball over the plate into the left field seats for a two-run home run. Grisham did the same to a Scherzer offering, but to right field for a solo blast in the second.
“Obviously things didn’t go my way the past couple of months, but I was talking to my dad about it yesterday, and he was like every at-bat you’ve had in major leagues, minor leagues, amateur ball, it was all practice for this moment,” Bell said. “You’ve got the most important at-bats of your career ahead of you so just make the most of them. So hopefully I can continue to do that.”
Despite trailing by 3-0, there was plenty of time for the Mets. Their offense is built around hitting for average and getting on base, not necessarily smashing the ball over the fence. They were tied for 15th (out of 30 teams) in home runs during the regular season, meaning a comeback wasn’t as likely to happen quickly or forcefully.
The Mets’ All-Star outfielder Starling Marte tried his best to provide a boost in his return from a fractured finger that had kept him out since Sept. 6. Despite wearing a splint and still feeling discomfort, he singled to lead off the second inning and stole two bases. But going along with the theme of the night, his teammates failed to drive him in.
Staked to an early lead, Yu Darvish, the San Diego Padres ace, neutralized the Mets’ offense for seven innings with his wide array of dipping and cutting pitches.
With two runners on in the fifth inning, Profar punished another Scherzer mistake, sneaking it over the right field fence for a three-run blast. After they scored, Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim and Profar each put a finger over their mouths, as if to further silence the already quieting crowd.
Two batters later, the boos came after Scherzer surrendered a line-drive solo home run to Padres’ All-Star third baseman Manny Machado. As Mets Manager Buck Showalter ambled toward the mound, Scherzer kicked the pitching rubber and flipped the ball into his glove. He handed the ball to Showalter and dejectedly walked toward the Mets dugout.
“Obviously the expectations for Max are always high because of his track record, but we just didn’t score any runs,” Showalter said. “We knew Darvish was going to be a challenge, and he was.”
After an exciting regular season that rekindled hope in a fan base that had grown accustomed to watching other teams play in October, the Mets are one loss away from the return of that disappointment.
