Oriole Park at Camden Yards – Baltimore

The Padres entered Camden Yards to play the Baltimore Orioles, hoping to turn things around.

Sure enough, the Padres struck first. Baltimore native Gavin Sheets hit a line drive to right field, allowing Fernando Tatis Jr. to score for the Padres. Xander Bogaerts made it to third base and had the chance to score, but ultimately the inning ended with him still on.

The Maryland Boy. pic.twitter.com/t4U2JYKxE8

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 12, 2026

Xander Bogaerts is back from paternity leave, and in response, the Padres X announced they would designate Bryce Johnson for assignment.

We have designated OF Bryce Johnson for assignment and reinstated INF Xander Bogaerts from the Paternity List.

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 12, 2026

The choice of DFA’ing Johnson may appear odd, given his potential on and off the bench. He’s a switch-hitter, a speed demon on the bases, and plug-and-play in all parts of the outfield. However, the Padres, more than anything, need slug. It seems they’d rather take their chances on callups like Samad Taylor, Will Wagner, and Jase Bowen. While their time on the major league roster has been rather short, they’ve had enough flashes of brilliance to earn their spot.

Following the Padres’ early lead, the Orioles immediately responded. A sac-fly from Adley Rutschman and a two-run homer from Samuel Basallo gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead.

Friday’s pitching matchup of Griffin Canning and Shane Baz could not have been more perfect. Both men get a lot of ground balls but have very different approaches from the mound. Baz, in particular, is good at getting weak contact from hitters.

Canning, meanwhile, is still on the hunt, looking for that elusive first win in a Padres uniform.

His most glaring issue is his walk rate. What killed his first away start against the Milwaukee Brewers was the immediate walks he gave up to start the outing. Canning would exit that game without finishing his half of the second inning.  Similar mistakes were repeated in this outing against the O’s.

Both teams traded blows between the first and second inning, but the battle soothed to a halt as Canning began to get into a groove and the Padres’ bats couldn’t string together enough hits.

Canning allowed another home run in the fourth, his third multi-home run game this year. Another Gavin Sheets hit in the fifth would even the game to its final score of 7-3.

The Padres’ bullpen would hold the O’s scoreless, allowing for plenty of room for the Padres to even up the game. However, no such catharsis would come.

A bad start is one way to lose a ballgame, but an ineffective offense is another. Unfortunately for the Padres, they’re 10-26 when scoring three runs or less in over half of those losses, and the game was within four runs just like today.

The Padres are still in contention for a wildcard spot and are still in the process of shifting their offensive strategy. Manny Machado, who has come under fire recently due to his recent comments on statistics and general lack of hustle, hit pretty well, knocking five hits in the last three games. Both of his hits on Friday were doubles.

Game two against the Orioles begins at 1:05 PDT.

Probable pitchers for the Padres and Orioles, respectively, are Randy Vazquez (5-4, 3.63 ERA) and Trey Gibson (1-1, 4.24 ERA).

Fabian Garcia