Padres romp by Mets as Max Scherzer disappoints in wild-card start

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The dreams of Mets fans were supposed to be realized on Friday. The first game of the wild-card series was an important moment for the Mets because they believed the future Hall of Fame pitcher would dominate.

In his start against the San Diego Padres, he allowed seven earned runs on seven hits, including giving up a career-high four home runs, as well as striking out just four batters, in a 7-1 loss.

The moments of struggle played on a loop in his head after the game.

It's going to be a late night for me.

Josh Bell hit a home run in the first to give the Padres a 2-0 lead. Trent Grisham hit a home run in the second to give the Padres a three-run lead. In the fifth, Profar hit a home run to right field, scoring two and sending the Mets starter off to a chorus.

The Mets, who won 101 games in the regular season but ended up as a wild-card team, face elimination on Saturday with the Padres sending a Cy Young award winner to the mound

Buck Showalter said that the Mets ended up with the same record as someone else in their division. Tomorrow, we'll get one to correct the ship.

After looking at the video from his start, the pitcher said he didn't have the same movement on his pitch as he usually does.

"I wasn't able to hit that pitch the way I usually do," he said. Everything else is set up with that bread and butter. I get hit a lot when my pitches are flat and running. Tonight I was hit a lot.

After giving up four runs on two home runs and nine hits in a crucial start against the Atlanta Braves, the New York Mets fell out of the race for the division title.

The last time he was on the injured list was in May with an oblique strain and in September with left side fatigue. When asked if injury was a factor in his recent struggles, he said they didn't.

"I felt like I knew what was going on in the Atlanta opener," he said. I thought I adjusted to make sure I was right. I don't know what caused the pitch to run. I don't know why I didn't have a good pitch.

The performance was vastly different from the one Yu Darvish gave the Mets, in which he allowed just one run on six hits.

"Obviously Max, with the expectations that he has for himself and what he's done for us and throughout baseball, but Darvish is on top of his game and we knew that was going to be a challenge." You have to defend a lot of things.

It was necessary for the Mets to match the Padres ace since Darvish was on top of his game. He wasn't able to fall short.

Baseball can take you to the highs and the lows. One of the lowest is this one.