Missed opportunities, lack of offense dooms Padres once again
Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Missed opportunities throughout cost the San Diego Padres, who lost for the ninth time in their last 12 games. Seattle Mariners starter Logan Gilbert wriggled his way off the Padres’ hooks all afternoon long. It was an extremely frustrating day for the Padres, who went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Padres starter Mike Clevinger came into the game looking to recreate his strong performance in Arizona six days ago. Clevinger looked great early, retiring the first eight batters he faced. However, the ninth hitter, Sam Haggerty, blasted a fastball into the Petco Porch to put Seattle ahead. The Mariners struck again in the fourth with three straight hits leading to three runs. All four Mariners runs scored with two outs, as Clevinger could not close out innings.
Clevinger did work through two more frames without any trouble, giving the Padres some necessary length after Sean Manaea’s short outing on Tuesday. He finished with a season-high 98 pitches but could not make the big ones. Seattle went 2-for-4 with runners in scoring position against Clevinger, coming up with clutch hits.
The Padres had plenty of traffic on the base paths, with every starter reaching base. They could not come up with the big hit, leaving runners on base in seven of nine innings. In the second, the first three batters of the inning all singled, loading the bases. A fielder’s choice and a pair of shallow flyouts got Gilbert out of the jam, keeping the game tied. San Diego did get a run across in the third when Jake Cronenworth scored after former Padre Adam Frazier’s error. Manny Machado led off the fifth inning with a double into right, but the Padres could not get him across.
San Diego cut into the Mariners’ lead in the sixth when C.J. Abrams brought home Nomar Mazara on a sacrifice fly. Mazara led off the inning on a bloop double. In both the frames that the Padres scored, they left multiple runners on base, failing to add on. The Padres ended up leaving ten runners on in the game, five of which were in scoring position. Former Padre Andrés Muñoz struck out three batters and retired five, ending the Padres’ threat.
Seattle’s bottom of the order crushed the Padres, with Dylan Moore and Haggerty going 5-for-7 with a walk in the contest. Moore and Haggerty both ran into outs on the base paths, but they did plenty of damage to Padres pitching.
Luis Garcia worked two shutout frames in relief of Clevinger, holding the Padres deficit to two runs. After Garcia, manager Bob Melvin made the interesting decision to go to Taylor Rogers. With the Padres trailing and Rogers having worked just two days earlier, it seemed strange to use the Padres closer. After the game, Bob Melvin said, “We had very limited pitchers today,” which explained the interesting choices from the bullpen. Rogers struggled tremendously, allowing four hits, including a two-run triple from J.P. Crawford. Crawford’s triple fell just out of the reach of Trent Grisham, who took a poor route to the ball.
All six Mariners’ runs came with two outs, as Seattle was very clutch. The first batter of the inning reached base five times for the Padres, who recorded eight hits in the game. However, after going 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position in the series, they posted just four runs in 18 innings.
After Jurickson Profar led off the ninth with a single, the Padres’ 2-3-4 hitters went down in order, ending the game.
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Nomar Mazara posted three hits in the game, raising his average above .300. However, the Padres struggled to hit for power, putting together just two extra-base hits. San Diego’s offense has combined for just 12 runs in their past six games, as their offense has been awful.
It’ll be a much-needed off day for the Padres before Joe Musgrove looks to get them back on track.
They’ll welcome the San Francisco Giants, who have lost five games in a row, to Petco Park.
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.
We can’t hope for much success against the mighty Mariners.
As has been stated, the team’s record is very misleading. Yes, they have talent, but they are showing the same signs of lifelessness, lack of heart, and low baseball IQ as they did at the end of last year.
In the context of all he has been given, and has fallen into his lap, Preller could be the single worst GM in history. Yeah, that is a superlative statement, but, for starters, look around the league for the good players on other teams who the Padres essentially got nothing in return, or worse (e.g. bad contracts, like WM). Trea Turner, etc……..