In the third of three against Colorado, the San Diego Padres’ offense hit a season-low. 

San Diego mustered only four hits, none for extra bases, against Colorado starter Austin Gomber and a tandem of relievers.

The Padres were hitting the ball, but the results weren’t showing. Jake Cronenworth laced a 98.8 mph line drive to right that was caught on a ranging play by Jordan Beck in the first inning, and Fernando Tatis Jr was doubled off at second to end the frame. If that wasn’t an omen for the game, I don’t know what else could be. 

The Padres would have some hard-hit balls in this game, with Xander Bogaerts lining a 100.6 mph liner right at Ryan McMahon to lead off the fifth inning. As noted on the Padres radio broadcast, Bogaerts has had some brutal batted-ball luck, and the numbers reinforce it.

The closest San Diego would come to scoring was on a high drive to right field off the bat of Cronenworth in the sixth, a 98 mile an hour drive with a 37 degree launch angle that was caught short of the warning track by Jake Cave. 

On the mound, Michael King looked to continue his roll from his past outing against LA.

However, he would be in for a rude awakening, as Brenton Doyle would hit a sweeper into the left field upper deck. King’s sweeper was part of what made his outing successful, but it would be his undoing in this game. The Rockies would have two more RBI base hits when King was on the mound, with both coming off sweepers where King missed location. The swings and misses were also missing on the sweeper, as he only got four whiffs on 18 sweepers thrown.

His other offerings fared better, as King was able to settle down going through the fourth and fifth, but his final line would end with six runs on eight hits, with two walks and seven strikeouts. The last of those runs would score on Jordan Beck’s first MLB home run off of reliever Jeremiah Estrada in the sixth. 

The Padres offense, after struggling with runners in scoring position over the last two games, would simply struggle against Colorado starter Austin Gomber. Gomber had recorded a 3.40 ERA in 13 career outings vs San Diego entering this game, and he pitched six shutout frames in the win. While his fastball was hit by Padres batters, Gomber blended in his offspeed to keep the Padres guessing. Rockies relievers would hold San Diego off the board despite base traffic, with reliever Peter Lambert punching out Luis Campusano to end an 8-0 shutout for Colorado’s seventh consecutive win. 

Mike Shildt would say postgame, “The sky is not falling in our clubhouse,” but having lost 4 of their last 6, the Padres need to turn their fortunes around going into the raucous atmosphere of Truist Park against the powerhouse Atlanta Braves. Matt Waldron takes the hill for San Diego on Friday at 4:20 pm.

Diego Garcia

A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.

A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.