Max Scherzer roughed up as Mets lose game to Padres and some momentum
The Mets' Max Scherzer walks back to the mound after giving up a three-run home run to the Padres' Manny Machado in the first inning Sunday in San Diego. Credit: AP / Derrick Tuskan
SAN DIEGO — In less than 24 hours, the Mets turned all those good feelings and all that positive momentum from a week of wins into, well, something more like no-mentum.
Their 6-2 loss to the Padres on Sunday was their second in a row, sending them into the All-Star break on a down note.
An ugly first-half finale — a game they openly wanted to win more than most because of the symbolism, vibes and urgency associated with this time of year, plus the reality of the standings — served as a fitting checkpoint.
“These guys need to take the mental break,” Brandon Nimmo said.
Manager Buck Showalter said: “In the mathematical world, the road trip was OK. But some of the math is — we don’t want it to work against us. We gotta win ballgames . . . We’ll start fresh with the Dodgers [on Friday] and put it behind us.”
They won’t be starting fresh, though. For all the talent accrued and money spent, the Mets are 42-48 and seven games back of the last National League wild-card spot. They are 18 1⁄2 games behind NL East-leading Atlanta, though that is more of a footnote at this point.
Sunday’s game contained shades of the playoff series between these clubs last October. Max Scherzer got blasted for five runs on two home runs by Manny Machado in five innings. Joe Musgrove, who dominated the Mets in their season-ending loss last year, did so again, tossing six scoreless innings.
Scherzer’s weirdly bad season is representative of the team’s. His 4.31 ERA is his highest at the break since 2012.
“I just need to pitch better. I gotta pitch better. There’s no other option,” he said. “I don’t think it’s necessary to reinvent the wheel; just execute better and be more consistent. When you do that, that’s when you can chew through lineups. Right now I’m just not consistent.”
Scherzer’s trouble began immediately as Ha-Seong Kim led off the first inning with a single and Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled off the centerfield wall. Machado then hit a slider on the inner half of the plate into the second deck in leftfield.
“Sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad,” Scherzer said of his slider. “And that’s the worst thing that can happen, an inconsistent pitch, when you don’t know exactly where you’re going to locate it.”
Scherzer seemed to settle in from there, but Machado got him again in the fifth. Tatis singled and Machado hit a fastball over the wall in the rightfield corner.
Sunday was Scherzer’s fourth consecutive start on the regular four days of rest. Across 2 1⁄2 months before that, he had made only two such starts.
“I thought I handled this run correctly,” he said. “I can’t sit here and say, oh, I got something going on, my back, anything like that. No, I feel good. So that’s the only good news you can take away, I physically feel good.”
Musgrove, meanwhile, was very good most of the time (seven strikeouts and no walks) and fortunate the rest of it. He allowed three hits and hit four batters but induced three double-play ground balls.
The Mets’ best scoring chance off him came in the top of the fourth when they loaded the bases with one out. Musgrove provided an assist by plunking Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, but DJ Stewart and Francisco Alvarez struck out on a combined six pitches.
“He’s done this twice now, where he’s pitched really, really well against us,” Nimmo said. “We need to come up with a little different plan now against him if we were to face him in the playoffs or the next time. But he is a good pitcher. When he hits his spots and he’s really moving the ball around the plate with all his pitches, it’s tough to come up with a plan on him.”
Like the Mets, the Padres (43-47) are trying to save their season.
“They’re a much better team than their record indicates,” Nimmo said. “As we are.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
