‘NOT SEEING (RESULTS) RIGHT NOW’
Bob Melvin wasn’t upset about the Twins scoring three runs off Brent Honeywell and Steven Wilson in the seventh inning of Thursday’s 5-3 loss.
He knows his relievers have been forced to pitch in too many close-and-late situations.
Melvin was upset because the Padres scored just one run in three different innings Thursday and can hardly ever score three runs in a single inning.
The Padres, in fact, have scored three or more runs in an inning just 13 times this season, the fourth-lowest total among major league teams.
That can largely be attributed to their relative inability to drive in runners when given the opportunity, as they rank last in the majors with a .203 average with runners in scoring position. They rank 18th in on-base percentage, but they are last in MLB with a .211 average with runners on base and rank 27th among the 30 teams with a .222 average with runners on first base.
“We’re not moving the line enough,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “Yeah, we’re getting those hits, but we’re getting one hit during the inning. It’s more about going back-to-back, keep moving that line and get those runners in.”
A significant source of the Padres’ frustration is the lack of consistency at the top of the lineup. One example of that is Manny Machado being 2-for-14 with Tatis on base.
Melvin did not want to hear about the Padres’ 10 hard-hit balls or their consistently quality at-bats or even an inconsistent strike zone he was ejected for asserting was not good.
“It’s a results-oriented game,” Melvin said. “And we’re not seeing those right now.”
Yu OK
Yu Darvish made it through six innings in just 80 pitches but was removed before the seventh because Melvin was not going to risk exacerbating what Darvish later described as “a tiny bit of tightness in the triceps area.”
The decision to remove Darvish from Thursday’s game may prove prescient if it enables the Padres’ ace to continue pitching as expected.
“He’s OK,” Melvin said. “He wanted to go out there. He’ll be fine for his next start.”
Darvish almost talked his way into remaining in the game.
“We had a conversation first, and he was OK with me going out there,” Darvish said through interpreter Shingo Horie. “But he went back into the dugout, and during the inning he came back and he said, ‘Let’s be careful about this … because the season is long.’ ”
Darvish seemed unconcerned.
“I usually pitch through this,” he said. “I did that when I was with the Cubs. I think Bob was being very cautious.”
Notable
Melvin’s 55th career ejection and second this season came in the eighth inning, after several innings of he and others in the Padres dugout riding home plate umpire Brock Ballou about his strike zone. Melvin was tossed after Ballou had heard enough following a strike call on Tatis on a pitch below the zone.
• Tatis’ home run on the first pitch of the game was his 10th career leadoff homer, tying him with Will Venable for most in Padres history.
• Darvish has faced just 84 batters with the bases loaded in an MLB career that began in 2012. His walk of Joey Gallo in the second inning Thursday was Darvish’s fifth bases-loaded walk.