Petco Park- San Diego, California

Round one of the Vedder Cup went to the Seattle Mariners as the San Diego Padres’ bats went cold on Friday night in a 5-1 loss.

In Saturday’s contest, the Padres looked to settle their offensive woes against Emerson Hancock and the 6.91 ERA he brought into the game.

For the Padres, the team would lean on Nick Pivetta, who was 4-0 at home with a 1.42 ERA in four games this season.

Pivetta dealt with some issues with home plate umpire Chad Witson’s strike zone in the first few innings. A few missed calls early in the game peeved the right-handed pitcher. He threw 37 pitches through the first two innings and was clearly upset at the increased pitch count.

As drizzle started to fall at Petco Park, the Padres attempted to rally in the bottom of the second on a Jackson Merrill leadoff hit. Xander Bogaerts followed the knock with a hit of his own. The two men were advanced on a 107.4 mph groundball by Gavin Sheets to first base. Emerson Hancock proceeded to strike out Jake Cronenworth and Elias Diaz on fastballs to end the threat. The Padres’ offense was still struggling to get anything going.

The game remained scoreless through the first three innings, as the Padres simply could not figure out Hancock. His changeup and fastball repertoire kept Padres hitters off balance for the most part. The Padres put three balls in play over 100 mph but had nothing to show for it in terms of runs.

Gavin Sheets got the Padres on the board with a home run to right-center field on a change-up. The 108.2 mph blast was Sheets’ 6th blast of the season. The Padres were up 1-0 through four complete innings.

Rowdy Telez immediately answered Sheets’ homer with a 106 mph solo home run on the first pitch he saw in the top of the 5th inning to make it 1-1. It was Telez’s second homer in as many days for the Mariners and landed in almost the same area as the Sheets bomb the inning before. Nick Pivetta settled down at this point despite the home run allowed and was sitting on 69 pitches through five innings of work with six strikeouts.

Emerson Hancock gave up a one-out single to Jason Heyward and a double to Fernando Tatis Jr. to put two men in scoring position for San Diego. Luis Arraez walked to load the bases, which brought Manny Machado to the plate with a chance to do some damage. Machado struck out on three pitches, the last a 97 mph fastball riding away from the third baseman. That would be Hancock’s last pitch in the game as he was removed by manager Dan Wilson after an 88-pitch outing.

Jackson Merrill batted against lefty Gabe Speier and struck out on a 96 mph fastball up to end the threat, as the Padres continued their inept play with runners in scoring position.

Pivetta was done after six innings of work on Saturday. “I thought he threw the ball really well,” Mike Shildt said.

Cal Raleigh put the Mariners up 2-1 on a 110.1 mph first-pitch blast in the top of the 7th inning off Adrian Morejon. “He got ambushed by a guy who kills us,” Shildt said after the game. The rain was really coming down at this point as most in the Petco Park crowd scrambled for cover. Jeremiah Estrada came on to limit the damage in the inning, but the Padres needed a late rally to win the game.

A rally would ot happen for the Padres on Saturday night as they lost 4-1 to the Mariners. The team went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position during the game and is now 0-for-15 in the series against the M’s. San Diego drops the series and falls down 0-2 in the battle for the Vedder Cup.

Up next for the Padres is game three of the series on Sunday against Seattle.

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

Michael King (4-1, 2.32 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Padres against Bryan Woo (4-1, 2.84 ERA) and the Mariners.

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.