Dismal Darvish, injured Adams make it a gloomy night for Padres
Credit: AP Photo
Murphy’s Law states that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”
The San Diego Padres showed exactly how true that can be on a cold and blustery night in San Francisco. Yu Darvish’s second start of the season went absolutely terribly, as he retired just five batters and gave up nine runs. San Diego’s bats were quieted, as they picked up just five hits on the night. Most worryingly, Padres reliever Austin Adams exited the game with an undisclosed injury. Adams looked distraught as he left the game, and it appeared to be related to his right elbow. Just about everything about the game was awful, but the Padres will need to find a way to fix their issues before the rubber match of the series.
The Padres went down rather quickly in the top of the first inning, bringing the Giants to the plate. They wasted no time jumping all over Darvish as Mike Yastrzemski singled before Brandon Belt homered. After just five pitches, the Padres were already trailing by a pair, and it didn’t get any better from there. Six of the first seven Giants players reached base, with Joc Pederson the only one to be retired. Thairo Estrada doubled the Giants’ advantage with a bases-loaded single, and even the next out Darvish induced still worsened the deficit. Wilmer Flores came around on Steven Duggar’s sacrifice fly before Estrada scored on a single to make it six runs in the catastrophic inning.
The Padres did pull one back in the top of the second. The newly acquired Luke Voit punched a single into right field before the slumping Wil Myers punched a double into right field. Myers’ double fell just outside the reach of Yastrzemski, and Voit scored easily. Voit had plenty of time to score, as he found himself on second following the first stolen base of his career. Unfortunately, Myers’ double did not prove to be a firestarter, as both Matt Beaty and CJ Abrams struck out to end the frame.
Darvish came out for the second inning, but he didn’t have much more success. After the first three batters he faced, the Giants had the bases loaded with no outs. Darvish did induce a double-play ball, which the Padres traded for a run. Flores knocked in another run with a single, which finally chased Darvish from the game, with the Padres down 8-1. Nabil Crismatt came into the game and immediately struggled with the hot Giants lineup, giving up a double and a single. Crismatt finally got himself out of the frame with a strikeout, but with the Padres down by nine, the game was all but over.
Austin Adams came into the game after Crismatt, and after pitching a 1-2-3 fourth inning, he started the fifth with a strikeout. Unfortunately for Adams and the Padres, he was then forced to leave the game. Manager Bob Melvin said, “He {Adams} felt some tightness in his forearm. We’re not sure how that plays out, so we’ll probably have a better determination tomorrow.”. Dinelson Lamet struggled in his first inning of work, allowing a single and a double to extend the lead even more, but he then got it together to sit down five of the final six batters he faced.
The Padres offense never really got much going, save for when Matt Beaty and Abrams started out the fifth inning with a single and a walk. The two of them moved up on back-to-back groundouts, bringing the Padres’ second and final run of the night home.
The only bright spot of the evening for the Padres fans came as Giants’ Alyssa Nakken became the first woman to coach in an MLB game. She took over as first base coach for Antoan Richardson, who was ejected.
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Myers then came onto the mound as the Padres sought to save bullpen arms, surrendering two solo home runs, setting up the 11-run final margin. Myers was the only Padre to get multiple hits, while five of the nine starters went hitless for the evening. It was an all-around dismal night for the Friars, ending their four-game winning streak and setting up a rubber match for Wednesday.
Sam is a Senior in High School. He has been writing for three years, and started at EVT in June of 2021. He’s headed to Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications in the fall of 2023.