SAN DIEGO -- Matt Harvey agreed his control did not match his first two major league starts. As a result, Harvey surrendered five runs on eight hits and a walk in five innings, as the Mets lost to the Padres 7-3 on Sunday at Petco Park.

Harvey is scheduled to make his home debut on Friday against the Braves at Citi Field.

“When I tried to go away, it was either six inches away or six inches middle,” Harvey said. “It was one of those days where I couldn’t find the strike zone. And when I did, it was not quality. I wasn’t executing the way I had the last two starts. It’s just one of those days.”

Harvey surrendered a double to Everth Cabrera and a two-run homer to Chase Headley, both on changeups, in the first inning.

“I felt like when I threw a good one, the next one was not so good,” Harvey said. “That’s how pitching goes sometimes.”

Asked about the difference between facing Triple-A and major league hitters, Harvey said: “When you make a mistake, they hit it. Down there you can get away with some stuff. Not all the time, but more often than not. Up here, you’re going to make a mistake, they’re going to hit it. They did. I just have to do a better job.”

Said Terry Collins: “Obviously the command of the fastball was the big difference. He threw some very, very good changeups today. And I thought some of his breaking balls were good. One of the things he was effective with the last two times was throwing that fastball up. … And today he was more in the middle of the plate, more down in the hitting zone than he was.”

Said catcher Rob Johnson: “I felt like his ball had life, like it normally does. He just missed over the middle of the plate on some pitches that they did some damage on. I thought they came out aggressive, and we combated that with some different things that Matt can do. But there were some balls that cut back over the middle of the plate, and they put good swings on them.

“Today, the curveball and the slider weren’t working tremendously great for him. We did throw a couple that were pretty decent, but not on a consistent basis like he was when he was in Arizona, when it was a really good pitch for him. They didn’t swing at the balls that were close. They did swing at the balls that were over the middle of the plate.”