BIG DUD, NOT SUDS IN MILWAUKEE
Padres follow familiar theme, fall behind and can’t catch up
To the pile of definitive moments in a Padres season of underachievement, the third inning of Friday night’s loss to the Brewers was added.
It consisted of a missed opportunity, as one of the best players in the major leagues again shrank to the occasion, followed by their opponent capitalizing in a way the Padres seldom can.
It can no longer be considered disappointing when they endure such a sequence. It is, 129 games in, what it is.
And what it is, is bleak. Before the game, it was suggested to Padres manager Bob Melvin that winning was imperative.
“I mean, we’re kind of past that now,” Melvin replied. “We’re gonna have to have a good record along the way. We know what’s ahead of us. There’s certainly a finish line in sight right now, and you kind of have a little better idea what you have to do.”
They did not do it. Again. A 7-3 loss at American Family Field meant they could be seven games out of the National League’s final playoff spot by the time Friday’s slate of games was complete.
The Padres have come up small in big moments most of the season. And that has been glaringly true in recent weeks, when it absolutely had to be better.
The Padres are batting .214 (21-for-98) with runners in scoring position over their past 17 games. That is 21 points below their season average of .235 to that point, which was 29th in MLB.
Friday was the eighth time in those 17 games the Padres were hitless with runners in scoring position. And how they achieved their 0-for-6 in this game represented what may have been a new low — striking out five times and grounding into a
The Padres are batting .214 (21-for-98) with runners in scoring position over their past 17 games. That is 21 points below their season average of .235 to that point, which was 29th in MLB.
Friday was the eighth time in those 17 games the Padres were hitless with runners in scoring position. And how they achieved their 0for-6 in this game represented what may have been a new low — striking out five times and grounding into a double play.
In all, the Padres struck out a season-high 17 times against Woodruff and three relievers, the first two of which were throwing 100 mph.
“It’s really pretty much the only time we really had a shot at him with a couple guys on base,” manager Bob Melvin said of the third inning. “He throws 96 mph; it looks like 100, and rest of the guys came in behind him were throwing 100, too. So pretty tough night for us at the plate as far as the strikeouts go.”
Jake Cronenworth was hit near his right wrist by a pitch and left the game in the ninth inning, just before Gary Sánchez launched a two-run homer. (Cronenworth was getting X-rays on his hand after the game.)
The Padres’ only run against Woodruff came on Manny Machado’s solo home run leading off the fourth inning.
That made it 5-1 and seemed so minimal compared to what happened in the third.
Woodruff’s 16th pitch to Grisham was a changeup that Grisham was early on. But it appeared to leave Woodruff a little unsettled.
But all it came to was pushing Woodruff (3-1, 2.65) to 29 pitches in the inning.
Woodruff, making his fourth start since returning from a nearly four-month absence necessitated by a shoulder injury, would finish six innings having allowed three hits and striking out 11 while throwing 107 pitches.
The third inning was the second time in the game Soto failed with a runner on second and one out. The Padres had left Tatis there in the first inning after his one-out double.
The Brewers had no such issue in the bottom of the third, as they took advantage of their first real opportunity against Darvish.
Brice Turang led off with a single, and Tyrone Taylor held his ground to get hit on the arm by a split-finger fastball. Both runners moved up on Christian Yelich’s groundout before William Contreras grounded an RBI single to right field. After a Carlos Santana pop-up, Willy Adames reached outside the zone to slap a single into center field and push the lead to 2-0.
Rowdy Tellez followed with a three-run homer, hit a projected 406 feet to rightcenter field. It was Tellez’s fourth home run against the Padres this season. It also ended a career-high drought of 182 at-bats without a home run.
Rich Hill replaced Darvish after four innings and held the Brewers scoreless until they added two runs with three consecutive two-out hits and a throwing error by Tatis in the seventh.
That was just piling on. A comeback from five runs down would have been the Padres’ biggest of the season.