Padres go 0-6 with RISP in 5-2 loss to Cubs
Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
More quiet bats from the San Diego Padres resulted in a defeat and series loss to the Chicago Cubs, 5-2.
If there’s any positive from the six hits San Diego mustered in the getaway day game at Wrigley Field, the struggling Manny Machado got his first multi-hit game since April 9 and hit his first home run in exactly two weeks. Padres manager Bob Melvin dropped Machado in the lineup to the fifth spot to look for a spark. He got more out of Machado, but more of the same in terms of runs.
Two runs is not indicative of the opportunities the Padres had Thursday. Once again, San Diego failed to hit with runners in scoring position, going 0-6 in such spots. Given how deep the Padres’ lineup is, the opportunities have been plentiful throughout the first month. Capitalizing on them has been a different story. That’ll need to change as the season goes along.
Seth Lugo got the start and ultimately took the loss after five innings of four run ball. Three of those runs scored in the second inning after Lugo retired the first two Cubs. The next man up? Former Padre Eric Hosmer. On a 2-2 count, Hosmer watched a pitch go right across the black on the outside corner. Home plate umpire Gabe Morales called it a ball, and Hosmer homered on the next pitch.
A very close pitch (#5) to Eric Hosmer from Seth Lugo before the home run, and before the Cubs scored 3 runs.
If the pitch is called a strike…the inning is over before any runs score. pic.twitter.com/cyXzqcan6s
— Sammy Levitt (@SammyLev) April 27, 2023
Two more runs came around to score in the inning, and the Padres trailed the rest of the game. The tying run came to the plate in the third, fourth, and seventh inning, with San Diego coming up empty all three times. In the eighth inning Juan Soto and Xander Bogaerts reached to begin the frame, but Machado, Matt Carpenter and Trent Grisham were retired in order to follow.
San Diego gets another day off after just one in the first 24 games for the Padres to travel to Mexico City to take on the San Francisco Giants. Joe Musgrove will make his second start of the season and face a rotation buddy from a year ago, Sean Manaea, in the first of two games on Monday.
Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”