Padres hammer Scherzer, rout hometown Mets

NEW YORK (AP) — After pounding Max Scherzer in a stunning romp, the San Diego Padres are halfway home in the wild-card round.

Josh Bell and Manny Machado smashed two of San Diego's four homers off an ineffective Scherzer, and the Padres blew out the New York Mets 7-1 on Friday night in their playoff opener.

“This is not a game that you normally see out of Max, so we were fortunate,” manager Bob Melvin said.

Yu Darvish shut down the Mets once again, and San Diego also got long balls from leadoff batter Jurickson Profar and slumping Trent Grisham against Scherzer — booed off the mound in the fifth inning at sold-out Citi Field.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner exited his first postseason start for New York down 7-0, a massive disappointment after Scherzer was signed to a $130 million contract in December to pitch big games for his new team.

“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.

San Diego needs one road win over the next two days to take the best-of-three National League wild-card series and advance to face the top-seeded Los Angeles Dodgers.

Blake Snell starts Saturday night in Game 2 against scuffling Mets ace Jacob deGrom.

“Every game in a three-game series feels like it's monumental,” Melvin said.

After winning 101 games during the regular season, second-most in franchise history, the Mets are suddenly facing elimination at home after falling flat before a revved-up crowd of 41,621 in their first playoff game since 2016.

“We’ve been really good and now we get to see what we're made of,” said slugger Pete Alonso, who struck out in the first two playoff at-bats of his career — including with runners at the corners and one out in