Petco Park- San Diego, California

Heading into Saturday’s game with the Tampa Rays, the San Diego Padres had not scored for 25 straight innings.

The offensive drought is reminiscent of the 2024 playoffs, where the Padres failed to score in their last 24 innings against the Dodgers in the NLDS.

Dylan Cease took the mound for the Padres in the game on Saturday, looking to improve his 6.04 ERA.

The high ERA is unusual, but not alarming if you look at his other numbers. His strikeouts and swing and miss rate are right on par, as is the hard-hit rate against him this season. Dylan Cease has been unlucky so far and the victim of a bad start a few weeks ago against the A’s.

Cease battled mechanics early on Saturday. His control was an issue as the pitcher issued free passes and got behind, which escalated his pitch count. His wildness in and out of the strike zone produced several hard-hit balls off the bats of the Rays. Christopher Morel and Junior Caminero doubled with exit velocities over 106 mph. Cease missed continuously in the top area of the strike zone and could not rely on his slider.

In the fifth inning, Cease departed the game with the bases loaded and one out. He walked four batters on the night, and it took the right-handed pitcher 95 pitches to get 13 outs in the game. ” I have full confidence in him,” Mike Shildt said after the game.

Yuki Matsui relieved Cease in the top of the fifth inning and pitched to pinch hitter Curtis Mead with the bases full. The right-handed hitter flew out to Fernando Tatis Jr. down the right-field line. The momentum of making the catch prevented Tatis from making a successful throw home. The sacrifice fly put the Rays up 3-0.

The 3-0 lead seemed insurmountable for the Padres with the way they were swinging the bats.

It took the Padres 30 innings, but they finally got on the board on Saturday with a base hit off the bat of Fernando Tatis Jr. to score Tyler Wade in the bottom of the sixth inning. Wade began the inning with a triple. The club record was 37 innings without scoring a run, which the Padres accomplished in 1971.

Tatis’ single in the bottom of the sixth ended the Padres’ scoreless streak and made the score 3-1 heading into the last third of the game.

The injury bug has hit the Padres’ clubhouse, and it continued on Saturday as Logan Gillaspie left the game in the top of the 7th inning after throwing one pitch. The right-handed pitcher doubled over in pain. He left the game immediately with an oblique injury. “We will get more medical feedback soon. He will obviously miss time,” Shildt said.

Tampa added on in the top of the ninth inning and took a 4-1 lead to the last half of the ninth.

Manny Machado doubled with one out in the ninth inning, but San Diego left him stranded in the 4-1 loss to Tampa. The Padres lose the series to the Rays and drop their third series in a row. At 17-10, the season is still promising for San Diego. However, they need their injured players back.

The Padres look to salvage the series on Sunday as Randy Vasquez (1-2, 3.97 ERA) takes the mound for the Padres against Zack Littell (0-5, 5.28 ERA).

The first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.

James Clark

James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. James has written about the Padres and their prospects for over a decade. He also writes about San Diego State as well as other local sports. James is the Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.