Tropicana Field – Tampa Bay

The San Diego Padres traveled to Tropicana Field to begin their away stand against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Padres dropped their most recent series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, they managed to salvage things at the very end. Between both teams, only nine runs were put on the board the whole series.

Now the Padres are playing the best team in the American League. They recently fared pretty well against the best team in the National League. So maybe luck could swing their way once again.

Casey Mize on the mound for the Padres could use it. He’s almost certainly looking to bounce back from his fluke start against the Minnesota Twins. Despite the Padres coming back from the deficit he created, it probably didn’t feel good leaving the way he did.

As if by fate, Mize opened with an 8-pitch first inning. His efficiency didn’t stop there; he blasted through the next inning at a fantastic rate. By the end of the third, he had thrown under thirty pitches.

However, he wouldn’t leave unscathed. Yandy Diaz tagged him for a solo homer before the ordeal was over.

His counterpart, Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan, wasn’t as efficient but held down the Padres offense very well.

The opposite was true for Mize as he continued his outing. Rays flooded the bases, eventually scoring on a ground ball that Ty France couldn’t field. Then a wild pitch bounced up into the air, giving Chandler Simpson enough time to score from third base.

And now this wild pitch from Mize that bounces in front of the plate… and no one can seem to find it#padres down 3-0 to the Rays pic.twitter.com/u2rdske00o

— Padres Central (@PadresCentral_) August 29, 2026

Rays continued to pile on this time on a sac-fly and did not stop there. By the end of the inning, the Rays extended their lead to 6-0.

It felt like an especially unlucky inning for the Padres, but overall, Mize hasn’t been the player the Padres were probably hoping for. Ignoring first-day jitters, as the season progresses, Mize hasn’t recreated his success from Detroit.

The Padres, vying for revenge immediately, loaded the bases on their next turn. Freddy Fermin hit a ball that could have turned into a double play, but he reached on an error from former Padre shortstop Jorge Mateo.

With one out, Jake Cronenworth hit a chopper to the right side, allowing another runner to score. Fernando Tatis Jr. couldn’t extend the inning, but the Padres were finally on the board in the fifth inning.

Despite his previous inning, Mize stayed on the mound, determined to go as far as he could. Mize still couldn’t handle the Rays’ offense, allowing another run in the fifth.

The Padres continued to climb back. A two-run homer from Jackson Merrill put the Padres within slam range of the Rays.

Jackson Merrill cuts the lead to three with a 425-foot bomb 💣

He’s slugging .570 with 8 home runs over his last 30 games! pic.twitter.com/DNRXLcnjqm

— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) August 29, 2026

Mize exited in the sixth, leaving David Morgan to pick up the pieces. Morgan got the first two outs but struggled to complete the inning, surrendering a run before exiting.

The cat-and-mouse game between the Friars and Devil Rays continued the rest of the contest. Try as they might, the Padres could not overcome the relentless Rays.

Cedric Mullins launched another solo homer in the seventh, bringing the game to its final score of 9-4.

While the loss was certainly frustrating, the Padres’ bats were more awake than they were against the Pirates. In this single game, they scored nearly as many runs as they did in that entire three-game series.

Saturday is a new day for the Padres. On the mound is Walker Buehler (8-6, 4.63 ERA) for the Padres and Nick Martinez (13-4, 2.93 ERA) for the Rays.

Fabian Garcia