NEW YORK — On the mound for the Mets in the opening game of the NL wild-card series Friday at Citi Field stood Max Scherzer, the man who can cut down October lineups like a weed whacker.
The seemingly unflappable goliath, armed with a wrecking-ball resume.
The debate for many coming into the best-of-three against the underdog Padres was whether the best pitcher in the series would be Scherzer or equally dominant and decorated Jacob deGrom.
There was a giant, turnpike-sized hole in all that verbal jousting lurking behind Curtain No. 3: Padres starter Yu Darvish, one of the best in the NL.
Darvish held the Mets and their fifth-ranked scoring offense in check while the big bats chased Scherzer in a 7-1 win that put the Padres one victory away from the NLDS.
"If you look at the numbers and look at his body of work this year, he's probably pitched as consistently as any pitcher in the National League," Padres manager Bob Melvin said Friday before first pitch. "We feel good every time he takes the mound."
The Padres belted four home runs off the Mets' fabled lineup disruptor, including one each from scuffling bats Josh Bell and Trent Grisham in a span of 20 pitches. Scherzer allowed 13 home runs in total this season, spread across 145 1/3 innings.
When Manny Machado launched the second in the fifth inning alone, seven pitches after Jurickson Profar's three-run shot, Scherzer left to New York's ultimate show of tough love with a cascade of boos from the sellout crowd of 41,621.
As Scherzer reached the dugout, a fistfight nearly broke out in the first deck above the third-base line — between Mets fans.
Credit the win to the Padres clearing the offensive cobwebs, as long as you dump a dollop of the same on Darvish for his metronome steadiness that held the Mets in check … on the road … in one of the most raucous stadiums, in one of America's most raucous cities … against a mammoth of the mound.
"I feel like I'm in a good place and I feel like I can go out there with confidence," Darvish said leading into the opener.
Darvish's slug-like pace enraged most of Queens, but it also seemed to disrupt the timing and rhythm of the Mets. He refuses to be rushed. He refuses to operate on someone else's schedule. He refuses, well, whatever deviates from his polished plan.
In the process, he carved out a bit of Padres history. He became the fourth player in franchise history to throw seven or more innings in a postseason game. He joined Ed Whitson (1984 vs. the Cubs), Kevin Brown (three times) and Andy Ashby (1998 vs. Atlanta).
Darvish had not thrown more than 6 2/3 innings in his postseason career.
"He's one of the best pitchers in the league, in baseball for that matter," Mets manager Buck Showalter said. "That's why he's been so coveted through the years by a lot of different clubs. … He's got a lot of weapons. A lot of weapons."
It wasn't as if the stars suddenly aligned for Darvish. He already had beaten the Mets twice this season, with one coming against Scherzer. His second-half numbers should have wowed far more than they did, as the NL pitcher of the month in September recorded a 2.71 ERA in the second half with 97 strikeouts against just 15 walks.
Then again, the star aligned.
Mets fans booed when actor Emma Stone was shone on the massive video board wearing a Padres jacket next to husband Dave McCary, a comedian, writer and director from San Diego.
It was that kind of night for Darvish and the Padres.
"I know the pitching that we have and we trust on them," said Padres right fielder Juan Soto of Darvish and Game 2 starter Blake Snell. "It's all about our offense, and we've just got to get it going."
If this was football, Darvish allowed the Padres to employ a textbook bend-without-breaking defense. Slugger Daniel Vogelbach and NL batting champ Jeff McNeil each cranked balls to the wall in the first three innings.
Darvish allowed only two hits in seven scoreless innings of a win against the Mets at Petco Park on June 7 and one run on four hits with nine strikeouts on July 22 at Citi Field.
"I think that was luck," he joked before the game.
Darvish entered the opener 5-0 in eight career starts versus the Mets with 58 strikeouts and nine walks. He wrapped up his seven innings Friday with only one earned run, on Eduardo Escobar's home run in the fifth, striking out four with no walks and a glistening 72 strikes in his 101 pitches.
Most remarkable of all, Darvish pushed his string of consecutive starts of at least six innings to 24.
Scherzer, the name on most lips nationally as the opener arrived, lasted just 4 2/3 innings while allowing seven earned runs on seven hits.
Was Darvish the best pitcher on the field Friday?
Yu better believe it.
