SAN DIEGO — Yu Darvish climbed the mound on Friday some seven pounds lighter than his last start on June 21.
He tried to pitch in Pittsburgh. He tried again, to no avail, in Cincinnati. The 36-year-old veteran was understandably rusty and the relievers behind him were good for four shutout innings.
One problem: They needed at least five.
Darvish gutted through five innings in his return to the mound and a valiant effort behind him crumbled in the 10th as the New York Mets rallied to hand the Padres a 7-5 loss to open a critical final series to close the first half.
The loss snapped the Padres’ win streak at three games and dropped them to 0-8 this year in extra innings, with rookie Tom Cosgrove taking on most of the water in the 10th and the Padres going silent after scoring three runs off Justin Verlander’s six-inning start until Manny Machado’s two-run homer in the 10th.
Among their notable missed chances before that blast was Ha-Seong Kim doubling with one out in the seventh and getting thrown out trying to advance to third.
Juan Soto followed with what would have been a go-ahead double.
Luis Garcίa bailed Adrián Morejón out of the sixth and threw a scoreless seventh, Tim Hill got through the eighth unscathed and Nick Martinez, filling in for Josh Hader, got out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth by starting a 1-2-3 double-play on Starling Marte’s comebacker to the mound.
The next inning, Jeff McNeil rolled a ball down the first base line to score the ghost-runner, Francisco Alvarez followed with an RBI single and Francisco Lindor added a two-run single off Brent Honeywell after Cosgrove’s exit.
That loomed large after Machado’s 10th-inning homer shaved the Mets’ lead to 7-5.
His illness finally behind him, Darvish walked the first batter he faced, two more after that, hit another and exited a 3-3 game after five innings in the opener of a critical three-game series against the New York Mets to close the first half.
On the mound for the first time in more than two weeks, Darvish’s first pitch was a 93 mph four-seamer that missed high. His 13th was a 95.5 mph heater that sailed into Pete Alonso’s hands.
By the time he’d thrown his 100th, a splitter to punch out McNeil, Darvish had struck out four, walked three and allowed three runs on seven hits.
That grind included allowing two 62 mph singles in the first inning, including a perfectly placed dribbler between Machado and Xander Bogaerts off the bat of Daniel Vogelbach with the bases loaded.
Francisco Lindor added a solo homer in the third inning and Vogelbach tied the game at 3-3 in the fifth with his third single off Darvish.
The Mets’ burly DH also sent a 100 mph single off Darvish’s back in the third, prompting a brief visit from Padres manager Bob Melvin and a Padres trainer.
Verlander’s start was a grind, too.
He walked Kim on four pitches to start the game, got two quick outs and, after Kim swiped second, allowed a game-tying double to Machado, his ninth RBI in his last six games.
The inning looked like it was over after Bogaerts bounced a ball to third base, but Luis Guillorme booted it and the carom snuck past Lindor, allowing Machado to score from second base.
Trent Grisham’s RBI double opened up a 3-1 lead in the second inning.
Gary Sanchez’s double-play ball to short helped Verlander escape a bases-loaded jam in the third as the 40-year-old reigning AL Cy Young winner went on to complete six innings. Verlander struck two, walked three and allowed three runs — two earned — on five hits.
The Mets arrived at Petco Park with an identical record to the Padres and on an upswing, also like the Padres.
They swept a four-game series against the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, while the Padres completed their first three-game sweep of the season on Wednesday against the Angels.
Of course, that they are in the exact same spot heading into the final series of the first half — as the No. 1 and No. 3 spending teams in baseball — is certainly puzzling.
“It looks pretty similar,” Melvin said. “Both teams are playing a little bit better right now. Both teams would like to take this into the All-Star break … and have a nice second half. There are certain matchups over the course of the season, especially coming down to the break that are maybe more important than others.”
Especially with the trade deadline looming.
Padres Chairman Peter Seidler has given no indication that the team is entertaining the idea of selling.
The faster they put a near-disastrous first half behind them, the better off they’ll be come Aug. 1.
“I’ve stepped down from trying to put (on) the GM hat or think what we need on this ballclub,” Machado said. “To me, I wouldn’t even know what to do. But as a team, we’ve got to stay focused, stay motivated and continue to improve and get better every single day.
“Whether that’s bringing in guys or even with the guys with us in here. We believe in each other in here.”
