Max Scherzer gets taken to the wood shed as New York Mets lose 7-1 to San Diego Padres

Yu Darvish threw seven strong innings, the Padres hit four homeruns off Max Scherzer and San Diego drove to a 7-1 victory over the host New York Mets on Friday in the opener of a best-of-three National League wildcard series.

Josh Bell, Trent Grisham, Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado all went deep for San Diego when Scherzer gave up the most home runs he gave up in a post-season game. The four held the highest tier of all regular season games, a figure that has reached the triple Cy Young Award three times before.

The fifth-seeded Padres go for the sweep on Saturday night behind left-handed Blake Snell. The Mets have yet to officially announce a starter, but are expected to send their co-ace — two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom — to the mound in the must-win game.

Game 3 was to be played in New York on Sunday evening, if necessary. The winner of the series advances to the highest seeded Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series.

Scherzer immediately ran into problems when Profar singled on the first pitch of the game before Bell hit a homerun with two outs well into the left field seats. Grisham hit a solo shot with two outs in the second, then Scherzer retired seven straight rows before Ha-Seong Kim singled in the fifth inning.

On consecutive one-out pitches in the fifth, Scherzer gave up a ground-rule double to Austin Nola and a three-run homer to Profar, while the Padres extended the lead to 6-0.

After Juan Soto grounded out, Machado homered to the left. The All-Star third baseman yelled as he sprinted around the bases when New York manager Buck Showalter trudged up the mound to relieve Scherzer, who received a loud boo on his way to the dugout.

The seven runs were the most ever allowed by Scherzer in a playoff game. His postseason ERA increased from 3.22 to 3.58 after seven runs against seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. Scherzer struckout four without walking.

Darvish gave up six basehits — including Eduardo Escobar’s one-out homer in the fifth — and did not walk while fomenting four. He is 3-0 an 0.86 ERA in three starts against the Mets this season.

Escobar had two hits and teammate Starling Marte, who hadn’t played since September 6 due to a broken right middle finger, had two hits and two stolen bases.

Profar and Kim each had two hits for the Padres. Robert Suarez and Luis Garcia each pitched a scoreless inning to seal the win.

The other three games of the first day of the MLB playoffs were all more competitive than beating the Mets.

Cleveland vs Tampa, where the Guardians took a 2-1 win in the best game of the day. Staring pitcher Shane Bieber dominated the game with seven and two third innings, while striking out eight batters. Jose Ramirez was responsible for the game winner after hitting a two-run homerun in the bottom of the sixth.

Philadelphia had by far the most exciting win after a six-run comeback in the ninth inning, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3.

The game, according to Sportradar, marked the first time in 94 since the season that St. Louis, an 11-time World Series champion, had gained a lead of at least two runs in the final frame.

“Unfortunately,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said, “that last inning got away.”

The game Seattle Mariners vs Toronto Blue Jays was another dominating pitching performance, as Luis Castillo carried his team to a 4-0 victory. Castillo shutout until he was eventually ejected from the game with seven and a fourth innings.