Padres lose for just second time in Spring Training, fall to Royals 9-7
Credit: Padres
The San Diego Padres saw their eight-game winning streak snapped after a 9-7 loss to the Kansas City Royals.
After falling behind 6-0 in the first inning, the San Diego Padres came close to making a comeback against the Kansas City Royals but came up just short.
After an impressive Spring debut, starter Adrian Morejon was tagged for all six runs in the first inning as the Royals collected six of their ten hits against Morejon and reliever Javy Guerra.
After Morejon and Guerra, three Padres relievers combined to pitch four scoreless innings. Kirby Yates, Michel Baez, and Pierce Johnson struck out a combined six batters.
However, the Royals got back on the board against top prospect Luis Patino, who was making his Spring Training debut. After striking out Brett Phillips, Patino surrendered three runs on three hits and a walk.
Royals starter Mike Montgomery held the Padres scoreless in the first inning, but the Friars got to Montgomery in the following inning. Walks by Ty France and Francisco Mejia set the stage for a Taylor Trammel RBI single. Tommy Pham followed up the single with a two-RBI double.
Tommy Pham smokes one to center and it drops for two runs!@Padres | #PadresST pic.twitter.com/mJKZdIMpCZ
— Bally Sports San Diego (@BallySportsSD) March 4, 2020
San Diego had one last offensive outburst in them once the sixth inning rolled around. Juan Lagares and Jake Cronenworth led the inning off with back-to-back walks while Austin Hedges loaded the bases with a single.
This set the stage for Trammel, who delivered with a two-RBI double to left field. A wild pitch by Yunior Marte allowed Hedges to score from third.
A groundout from Jurickson Profar brought home Trammel to make the score 9-7, but San Diego was unable to score after the four-run sixth inning.
With the loss, the Padres dropped to 9-2 in Cactus League play. However, they still maintain a 1.5 game lead over the Texas Rangers for first place.
The Padres will square off with the Seattle Mariners Thursday at 12:10 PST. Dinelson Lamet will be making the start for the Padres while MacKenzie Gore is expected to make his debut out of the bullpen.
I am currently attending San Diego State University while working on achieving a major in journalism. At SDSU, I write for The Daily Aztec while also hosting the sports radio show “Picked Off”, for KCR Radio. A loyal fan of San Diego sports, I hope to bring content that you will enjoy reading.
I fear Mejai will never be a MLB catcher.