Padres Bats, Gloves Fail Margevicius as Friars Fall to Braves 3-1
Mandatory Credit: Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports
Atlanta, Georgia
The game started well for the San Diego Padres. Greg Garcia led off the game with a base hit which was followed by a Franmil Reyes single, sending him to third. Manny Machado grounded into a double play but not before scoring a run and giving the Padres an early 1-0 lead.
Nick Margevicius started strong, as he has been doing for most of the season as he retired the first seven batters he faced.
Then the defense fell apart. With a runner on first, Atlanta pitcher Mike Soroka let a bunt down which was fielded quickly by Eric Hosmer. Hosmer fired to second base, but the ball got past Garcia, and it dribbled past Manuel Margot in the center, allowing one run to score, and Soroka went to third base, with errors charged to Hosmer and Margot. Soroka then scored on an Ozzie Albies single, giving Atlanta a 2-1 lead.
San Diego’s fortunes would not improve much from that point. Margevicius buckled down and pitched around another error; the Padres had three total on the day. He allowed one more run as Albies sent a low pitch over the left field wall, extending the Atlanta lead to 3-1.
Margevicius left the game with the bases loaded, and two outs in the sixth but Adam Warren was able to dance out of danger. All in all, it was a solid outing of 5 2/3 innings with one earned run, three walks, and three strikeouts.
The Padres played some bad baseball behind Margevicius and cost him the lead. Not many 22-year-olds would bounce back against the heart of the Braves order like that, but he gets out of it with the Padres trailing, 2-1.
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) April 30, 2019
The bullpen took over and was able to keep the Braves at three runs. Robbie Erlin pitched two scoreless frames to get the Padres to the ninth, still only down two.
The Padres were hapless in the ninth inning and went down quickly as the Braves closed out the 3-1 victory. They were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. After the first inning, San Diego had the leadoff hitter on base but did not capitalize.
The Friars sorely missed Fernando Tatis Jr. in the field and at the plate. Manny Machado continues to struggle at the plate as he was 0-for-3 with a walk.
San Diego looks to even the series on Tuesday as Chris Paddack takes the hill fresh off of the best start of his young major league career.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.
Tanned Tom misses the mark again !
Two things.
First, no way that should have been an error on Hosmer. That throw was right where you would want it. Garcia has to catch that ball. Now what Margot was doing is anyone’s guess, that was a Little League moment.
Secondly, no one is hitting. Tatis is off to a great start, but everyone else is either struggling (Hosmer, Machado) or sucking.
Maybe it’s time for a accountability check.
Bench: Kinsler, Myers and Hedges.
Demote: Renfroe, Reyes and Margot.
Not permanently, but it’s not good to see young players comfortable with crappy results.
There are guys at AAA who are hitting, give them a chance. Alex Dickerson, Austin Allen, Michael Gettys, even Jose Pirela should be tried.
You hit you play, you don’t hit someone else plays.
Nick I really am enjoying your writing. It’s well written, paints the story of what went down as clear as a slowed down rewind, and you used hapless in the story! What more could we want, unless it was our Padres being fortuitous in hitting with runners in scoring position.