After six straight wins, the Padres decided to bring back ‘pitching chaos’ in search of yet another series win.

However, a dazzling pitching performance by a former Padre prospect and an uncharacteristically poor offensive performance (for this half of the season) lead to the team falling to the Guardians 6-1, who won their 10,000th game in team history.

The Padres and Guardians would trade runs in the first as Manny Machado brought home a run on a double play ball, ending a promising inning early.

The Guardians began hot off opener Wandy Peralta but only scored one run on a double by Jo Addell, scoring Jose Ramirez. They would’ve added on more but for an outstanding throw by Jackson Merrill and relay by Xander Bogaerts off a double by Ramirez which cut down runner Chase DeLauter at the plate. Peralta gave way to Kyle Hart in the second but also was tagged for a run on a double by Patrick Bailey which scored Angel Genao.

After two straight lefty relievers, Craig Stammen turned the ball over to ‘starter’ Randy Vasquez who had an easy third and fourth inning, only allowing one base runner.

However, in the fifth, Vasquez gave up a single to Petey Halpin and a stolen base before an RBI double to Steven Kwan, who would score later on a DeLauter sacrifice fly making it 4-1 Guardians. Vasquez put two more men on in the sixth but managed to work around the trouble without giving up a run, in Vasquez circa 2025 form. However, the magic ran back out in the 7th inning as the Guardians plated two more on a double steal and throwing error by Jake Cronenworth making it 6-1. Vasquez ended the game at five innings pitched with four runs on seven hits and six strike outs – not a horrible performance but when the Padres couldn’t hit all game, no performance would have been enough.

Former Padre Joey Cantillo was outstanding on the mound and paid the team that traded him (among others) for Mike Clevinger back in spades. He only gave up a single run and a single hit in six innings with seven strikeouts. In fact past the first inning, Cantillo didn’t allow a single baserunner until he was relieved at the end of the sixth inning. Colin Holderman, Hunter Gaddis and Erik Sabrowski combined for the final three innings holding the team to only one hit all game long. The last time that happened was back on June 15th when Cardinal (now Brewer) starter Dustin May took a no-hitter into the 7th.

With that loss the Padres fall back into a three-way tie for the final two wild card spots.

The Padres will close out their series in Cleveland tomorrow as Casey Mize will try to continue his success from his last outing, going against Tanner Bibee. After Sunday’s game, the Padres will head to Queens to take on the New York Mets.

Loren Casuto

A Native San Diegan, Loren has spent his entire life not only as a fan but an active participant in San Diego’s sports world. In 2006 Loren joined two other die hard Charger fans to create Bolttalk, where Loren was a co-host and regular columnist from 2006 until the Chargers left in 2017. After that he started another podcast, The Grid Podshow, from 2020-2021 with his former co-host and colleague, speaking about the local sports community and popular culture.

When he’s not giving his opinion about San Diego sports, Loren is an adjunct professor at San Diego State and an attorney.