Opening a home series vs the Marlins, the Padres faced a significant challenge: a gauntlet of back-to-back-to-back left-handed starting pitchers. 

It’s no secret that the Padres have struggled against left-handed starting pitchers this season, and this trend will continue against Marlins starter Trevor Rogers.

The Padres would record six hits and two walks against Rogers but would only manage to score once (on a solo homer by Donovan Solano). While the Padres only struck out three times against the southpaw, many of their hard-hit balls did not find grass. 

Michael King started for San Diego, and he was able to keep his role going.

Despite posting twenty pitches in the first inning, King was able to get through fine innings. His stuff was playing up today, as batters whiffed on 33% of the swings they took against King. Marlins batters were certainly battling up there against King, as they would record a staggering 21 foul balls against the Padre right-hander. The only blemish on King’s line came on a home run by Jazz Chisholm Jr, the first homer off a King changeup this season. 

While the Padres would squander a scoring opportunity in the sixth inning, they would be able to push across a run in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk by Jake Cronenworth.

Cronenworth had himself a day at the plate, recording his 500th career hit in the fourth inning, making him the ninth Padres player to record their first 500 career hits as a member of the Padres.

The Padres’ bullpen performed valiantly in the game, tossing four innings of one-hit baseball with four strikeouts, continuing their excellent run of form this month, as they have ranked as the top strikeout bullpen in the Majors over the last 30 days. Despite the bats going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, the Padres’ pitching and opportunistic offense were able to do just enough to squeeze out a 2-1 win. 

Another Bridge Found?

The Padres would not be in the position they were in going into the bottom of the seventh inning had it not been for the efforts of left-hander Adrian Morejon.

Morejon pitched the sixth and seventh inning, allowing only one walk and striking out a batter. Since May 13, Morejon has tossed 8.1 scoreless innings, with seven strikeouts and two walks. Performances like these give the Padres and their staff another potential option for the later innings of games or close games, as we saw today. 

One in the Same?

Before his demotion to Triple-A, Eguy Rosario was hitting .294 with three homers against left-handers. Since coming onto the big league club, Donovan Solano has batted .315 with a homer against left-handers. These are clearly similar statlines, and as the Padres have continued to struggle versus southpaws, the performance of players like Solano will continue to make a difference for San Diego.

The series continues tomorrow night at 6:40 pm, with Matt Waldron facing Jesus Luzardo.

Diego Garcia

A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.

A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.