*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
San Diego leads series 1-0
On the road against a juggernaut, a statement needed to be made. Josh Bell homered, Jurickson Profar added a homer of his own, and the San Diego Padres cruised past the New York Mets with a 7-1 victory on Friday night in Queens.
Back in the postseason after missing out last year, the Padres rode a 4 homer game from their offense against a pitcher likely headed to the hall of fame when his playing days end. It wasn't big bats like Juan Soto or Manny Machado either, it was Bell and Profar leading the charge.
Padres manager Bob Melvin said that "We hit some mistakes when he made them. Which he doesn't do very often. When you get a mistake from him, you'd better take advantage. Every game in a three-game series feels like it's monumental. Same approach, same kind of scheme going in, same preparation, and a pitcher that's been pitching well over the last couple months for us. So we’ll feel good."
San Diego got on the board almost instantly in game one. Bell got it started, getting all of a two run home run to left center field, giving the Padres a pretty quick 2-0 lead on Bell's 18th homer of the year. One inning later, it was Trent Grisham's turn, blasting a solo home run to right field to pad the lead to a 3-0 margin.
In the 5th inning, the Padres got right back at it. Profar got it started, wrapping a 3 run home run around the foul pole in right field, making the score 6-0. Manny Machado followed it up with a solo home run of his own, upping the Padres lead to 7-0. Eduardo Escobar hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 5th to make it 7-1 and get the Mets on the board, but they couldn't score again.
Getting the start for the Padres was Yu Darvish, who put together a brilliant start. Darvish was responsible for one run on 6 hits, striking out 4 hitters in 7 innings. Robert Suarez came on and delivered a scoreless 8th inning, and Luis Garcia sealed the win with a shutout 9th inning.
Asked after the game about Darvish's start, Bell said that "You’ve got a guy like Yu on the mound, it only takes a couple runs of run support, and he can just do his job. I'm happy to help."
Veteran ace Max Scherzer got the start for the Mets, getting rocked to the tune of 7 runs on 7 hits in just 4 2/3 innings pitched. Trevor May came on and pitched the next 1 1/3 innings. Seth Lugo, David Peterson, and Mychal Givens each worked a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.
Scherzer said after his start that "Baseball can take you to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. This is one of the lowest of lows. I don’t know why I didn’t have my good fastball. There were several fastballs I had tonight where the fastball almost looked like it was sinking, versus having ride. So yeah, this is going to be a late night for me."
Up next, the series continues with game two on Saturday night in Queens. The Padres will look to claim their spot in the NLDS with Blake Snell taking the mound, while the Mets look to force game 3 with superstar Jacob deGrom getting the start.
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