Rogers Centre- Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Friars entered Wednesday’s ballgame against the Toronto Blue Jays looking to snap a four-game skid. As Padres hitters had only mustered three runs in the last four contests, they faced former NL West foe Kevin Gausman. Meanwhile, right-hander Randy Vásquez vied for his third consecutive quality start.

The trending story of San Diego’s anemic offense continued to start the second of a three-game series in ‘The 6’. After being shut out 3-0 on Tuesday night, the Padres carried the burden of going 0-for-24 with runners in scoring position, stemming back to May 16 versus the Seattle Mariners. After Luis Arraez doubled with one out in the top of the first inning, Manny Machado popped out, and Jackson Merrill fell victim to a nasty Gausman sinker to strike out and end the inning. Extending the streak to a dreadful 0-for-26.

Randy Vásquez looked sharp in his first inning of work. He’d freeze lead-off man Bo Bichette with a sharp sinker on the outer-quadrant of the strike zone for his first punch-out of the evening. Vásquez got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to pop out and induced a grounder for a clean frame.

After a one-out double from Manny Machado in the fourth, it was more of the same script from the Friar bats. A dominant Gausman would get Jackson Merrill to fly out and Xander Bogaerts to strike out looking. The Toronto righty accumulated six punch-outs through the game’s first four innings. Padre hitters just flailed at whatever he was throwing.

Kevin Gausman’s 2Ks in the 2nd.

4Ks thru 2. pic.twitter.com/OMBtig5ZEM

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 21, 2025

The ballgame took on the sense of a pitcher’s duel, as Randy Vásquez countered Gausman nicely. He collected his fourth strikeout of the night in the bottom half of the fourth while only giving up one base hit. His entire pitch mix was working well against Toronto batters, as the game remained scoreless.

Randy Vásquez, Filthy Breaking Balls. ? pic.twitter.com/2rMRAWZQvB

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 22, 2025

Blue Jays break through against Vásquez

After getting the first two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning and some help from a couple of nifty defensive plays, Randy Vásquez surrendered a two-run homer to Blue Jays left fielder Nathan Lukes. The towering shot flew into the right field stands to give Toronto a 2-0 advantage heading into the middle innings. For all of Vásquez’s efforts, his night would end after Bo Bichette singled down the left field line after the homer. Mike Shildt called upon Jeremiah Estrada to secure the inning’s third out. He’d do so, getting Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to ground out.

Randy Vásquez’s final line

4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Nathan Lukes keeps CRUSHING ? pic.twitter.com/RQzG2mo7aa

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 22, 2025

Manny Machado had an opportunity to answer back for the Padres after Luis Arraez tripled with two outs in the sixth. To no avail, the ice-cold third baseman flied out to right fielder George Springer to extinguish an attempted San Diego rally.

John Schneider had to love what he received from his starter, Gausman. The 34-year-old worked seven excellent shutout innings. It marked the second time Gausman threw seven or more innings in a start this season, doing so against the Boston Red Sox on April 9 when he went eight innings while giving up one unearned run.

Kevin Gausman’s final line

7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K

The Blue Jays loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning with lefty Adrian Morejon on the mound. A single and two fielding errors by Manny Machado put a Jay on every pillow for Bo Bichette. Jake Cronenworth would boot a Bichette grounder but manage to secure the force out at second base for the inning’s first out. A run would score on the play, giving Toronto a 3-0 lead. The next batter, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., would add on with a run-scoring single to make it 4-0.

Side-armer Alek Jacob would relieve Morejon with one out and two runners on-base. Jacob would strike out Daulton Varsho on a 2-2 changeup, but would surrender an RBI hit to George Springer after Manny Machado tried making a ranging play from deep third base that pulled Luis Arraez off first base. After walking catcher Alejandro Kirk to reload the bases, pinch-hitter Jonatan Clase skied a double into the right-center field gap to score two more runs. Addison Barger flied out to end the frame, but the damage was all done. The Jays led 7-0 after seven.

Jonatan Clase replaces Anthony Santander as a pinch-hitter. Blue Jays leading 5-0. Santander has been dealing with left hip and shoulder soreness FWIW.

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) May 22, 2025

It’s ugly over here

With a large lead late in the game, Jose Ureña was handed the ball after Gausman’s stellar performance. The righty worked a scoreless inning despite two errors from the Blue Jay defense. Alek Jacob was left in to start the eighth inning. After Ernie Clement was hit by a pitch and Nathan Lukes’ base hit, Bo Bichette added a little salt to the wound by lining a single of his own to score Clement. An attempt at a nifty glove-flip out attempt by Jose Iglesias on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounder allowed Toronto to load the bases for the the third time in two innings. For just how bad things are going for San Diego, Daulton Varsho launched a grand slam to dead-center field, making it 12-0 in favor of the Jays.

We’re having a GRAND time ? pic.twitter.com/wrL0FhO4Ch

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) May 22, 2025

As things couldn’t get more somber for the Padres, utility man Tyler Wade made a relief appearance to save the rest of the Friars’ bullpen arms. Wade gave up two runs. One charged to him and the other to Alek Jacob. The Blue Jay offense tallied 14 runs on 14 hits to end an emphatic performance.

Jose Ureña would finish off a route of San Diego, handing them their fifth straight loss by getting Gavin Sheets to pop out to Alejandro Kirk for the final out of the ballgame. The Padres extended their dreadful RISP streak to a staggering 0-for-30 after a second consecutive shutout loss.

Salvage tomorrow

“As far as the offense goes, listen, it’s a group of guys taking as many good, tough at-bats as they can,” Padres skipper Mike Shildt said postgame. “It’s starting to creep in a little bit. The guys are pressing,” Shildt continued.

The Padres are better than this. They know that. It’s unfortunately difficult to get back on track when the stars are slumping. The sting burns worse when they’re getting quality pitching performances and are unable to back up the starting rotation. They have an opportunity to salvage a game tomorrow as Stephen Kolek takes the mound against Bowden Francis. First pitch is slated for 10:07 a.m. PT.

Armando Dueñas

Armando Dueñas is a 25 year-old journalist. He is a native San Diegan who grew up in the South Bay area. A lifelong Padres fan and baseball enthusiast, he resides just about fifteen minutes from Petco Park, where his love of the game began.