In a trend that has become all too familiar for San Diego Padres fans this season, San Diego was shut down offensively throughout the evening. This time Zac Gallen, who the Padres had performed well against in the past, got the better of the Friars. 

He started off his night in stride, striking out Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado in the first inning. Xander Bogaerts did start out the second inning with a wall-ball double, giving the Padres a great chance to take the lead early. Bogaerts’ double extended his on-base streak to 24 games, but that proved to be a false omen for San Diego. He never left second base as Gallen mowed through the next three hitters, kicking off a lengthy streak of consecutive hitters being retired.

While the Padres’ offense struggled, Seth Lugo kept them in the game with another strong performance on the mound. He retired the first six hitters he faced before the Arizona Diamondbacks got something going in the third against the southpaw. Gabriel Moreno singled to start the inning before a one-out single moved Moreno to third. Geraldo Perdomo, who hit the second single, moved to second when Tatis threw over the cut-off man for the second straight night. With two runners in scoring position and just one out, Lugo was in plenty of trouble. However, he struck out Josh Rojas and induced a groundout from Ketel Marte to end the threat, keeping the game scoreless.

Lugo nearly danced his way out of danger again in the fourth, but he couldn’t escape this time. Christian Walker roped a double into center field before moving to third on a wild pitch. With two outs, Moreno chopped a ball up the middle. Ha-Seong Kim was able to snare the ball and fire a jumping throw to first, but he couldn’t get enough velocity on it. That let Walker come home, putting Arizona up a run, which proved to be plenty of offense. The Diamondbacks doubled their advantage in the fifth when Rojas came home after Marte sent a one-out double into right-center field. That was all Arizona produced offensively, tagging Lugo for two runs in six solid innings of work. They had multiple hits in three different innings, but the left-hander limited the damage to just two runs. “Any other time you give six innings like that, give up a couple runs, certainly going to be in the game.”.

After Bogaerts’ double, the next 14 Padres who stepped into the box were all retired. Eight of those fourteen were struck out by Gallen, who was absolutely dominant. That run was finally ended by Fernando Tatis Jr., who recorded his major league hit in 566 days. Tatis lined a single into center, but that couldn’t do anything but provide a roadblock for Gallen. “It won’t be his last, I know that.”, said Bob Melvin post-game.

With Lugo’s night finished Melvin turned to the recently recalled Ray Kerr, who put together a scoreless inning. However, Luis Garcia could not do the same, as a series of ground ball singles meant that he left the game having given up three runs, with two more on base. Reiss Knehr was hardly more effective than Garcia, as he allowed both runners to score before surrendering two more of his own. That meant Arizona put up a seven-run inning in the eighth, turning a close pitcher’s duel into a rout. 

The ninth inning was uneventful, save for Tatis sending a line drive to the wrong side of the foul pole. He flew out one pitch later before Jose Azocar ended the game when he grounded out. 

It was the third time in six games that the Padres were shut out and the fifth in six that they failed to score multiple runs. “Our big boys haven’t heated up yet. They’re here for a reason. They will.”, said Melvin post-game. They recorded just two hits and no walks in the game, as they were completely stifled and smothered by Gallen and the Diamondbacks.

San Diego will look to take game three of the series when Joe Musgrove makes his season debut on Saturday. He’ll duel with Merrill Kelly as the Padres work to fix their offensive struggles.

Sam Evans

Sam is a Senior in High School. He has been writing for three years, and started at EVT in June of 2021. He’s headed to Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications in the fall of 2023.