Padres’ offense struggles in 4-3 loss
Credit: USA Today Sports
The pitching staff, primarily the starting pitchers, is what is struggling most for the faltering San Diego Padres.
On a night where Blake Snell only allowed three runs and the bullpen allowing just one run to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Padres’ offense failed to get anything going in a 4-3 loss. With the loss, the Padres are now tied for the final National League wild card with the Cincinnati Reds.
The Phillies started Matt Moore, who owned a 6.07 ERA entering Friday. Philadelphia also boasts one of the worst bullpens in baseball with a 4.56 ERA, so the Padres should have theoretically been expecting to score a solid amount of runs on Friday.
Despite walking a whopping ten times, the Padres only scored three runs on four hits. They stranded the bases loaded three times and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The only runs scored came on a Manny Machado home run and a hit-by-pitch.
MANNY MACHADO
119.6 mph HR
That's the 4th-hardest hit HR tracked by Statcast (since 2015), behind only:
121.7 mph: Giancarlo Stanton, 8/9/18
121.3 mph: Giancarlo Stanton, 7/25/20
121.1 mph: Aaron Judge, 6/10/17 pic.twitter.com/unsroWAtHe— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) August 21, 2021
Doug Eddings was the home plate umpire for Friday’s contest, and it is never good to mentioning the umpire when discussing the result of the game. However, Eddings made several calls on balls and strikes that were called incorrectly that negatively impacted the game against the Padres. Eddings also umpired the game in July, where he missed 17 calls against the Padres. It wasn’t as bad on Friday, but it led to ejections of Jayce Tingler and Manny Machado.
“We’re obviously frustrated with the zone,” Tingler said. “Our guys, we are not going to swing outside of the zone. They have been disciplined to do it. Throughout the night, there were balls, a ball, a ball, and a half off the plate. Something has got to give. [Eddings] has got, I think, statistically the widest zone in the league. We are not going to swing pitied of the zone, so something has to give at some point.”
Who doesn´t love a part 2! (I don´t) https://t.co/4uRPDDmQF9 pic.twitter.com/9Mioti6Lbs
— Cosha (@pochineskyy) August 21, 2021
Snell got through five innings of three-run ball but consistently looked solid Friday. After he walked Jean Segura on four pitches to start the game, Snell retired the next eight batters. With two outs in the third inning, Snell walked Segura again and then allowed three runs after allowing a double to J.T. Realmuto and a home run to Bryce Harper. His home run was just the second by a left-handed hitter off Snell this year. Snell finished the night with nine strikeouts and just two walks.
[wpedon id=”49075″ align=”right”]
“I thought [he had] really good stuff,” Tingler said. “The walks to Segura came back to bit us a couple of times. That third inning was the only issue, but besides that, Snell had really good stuff. He just got the pitch count up, which prevented him from going another inning or two.”
The Padres will need to forget about Friday night and find a way to win on Saturday with Joe Musgrove on the mound. Philadelphia will start Aaron Nola, Austin Nola‘s younger brother. The first pitch is at 5:40 PT.
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.”
“Tingler said. “Our guys, we are not going to swing outside of the zone.”
As Manny strikes out swinging at a pitch outside of the zone……