Poor Pitching, Defensive Miscues Lead to Padres’ 4-2 Loss to Reds
Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Great American Ballpark- Cincinnati, Ohio
It was a sunny getaway day in Cincy and the Padres began the day with Matt Strahm on the mound, with the intention of it being a day where the bullpen pitched the entire game.
Strahm pitched two scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
The Friars took the lead in the top of the third when Greg Garcia doubled home a run.
The Reds responded quickly with three runs in the bottom of the third. Josh Naylor misplayed a line drive in left field that ended up costing San Diego a run.
Eric Yardley made his major league debut in relief of Strahm and allowed the bases to become loaded, with little help from his defense.
Trey Wingenter then came in with the bases loaded and walked two runs in, gifting the Reds a 3-1 lead, with only one of those runs being earned. After the discouraging inning, the Padres struggled to keep up with the hometown Reds.
El Cajon REPRESENT!
Greg Garcia puts the Friars on the board 💥#FriarFaithful | @Padres pic.twitter.com/Ka0d9qPYtY
— Bally Sports San Diego (@BallySportsSD) August 21, 2019
Luis Perdomo relieved Wingenter and settled down after allowing a home run to Jose Iglesias extending Cincinnati’s lead to 4-1. Craig Stammen finished the “bullpen day” with two scoreless innings.
The Reds pitchers did a good job stifling Padres hitters as the Friars struck out nine times without working a walk. Francisco Mejia launched his eighth home run of the season, cutting the Reds lead in half in the seventh but the Padres bats did not do much else.
Cincinnati relievers Michael Lorenzen and Raisel Iglesias combined to shut out San Diego in the last two innings to seal the deal. A lack of plate discipline and poor pitch selection led to little offensive production for the visiting Friars.
The Padres lost the series and now have an off day before starting a weekend series with the Boston Red Sox.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.
You can chalk this loss in the Andy Green column again. First, let me say Josh Naylor is not an outfielder, will never be a good outfielder. Second, why throw Yardley into the mix in a 1 to 1 game? His first day up, so why not let him get his feet wet and his confidence up, say if the score was either 5 to 1 with us up or 5 to 1 with us down. Third. After Green created a problem by bringing in Yardley he compounds the problem of bringing in Wingenter. All year, all he has done is prove that he does not handle pressure well. As soon as I saw him, I knew it was all over, and I am just a dumb fan. Mr. Preller, I’m sure by now you know in your heart that Green has got to go. The only question is when. There are a lot of prospective manager’s out there that know how to handle a pitching staff much better. Bruce Bochy comes to mind along with Buddy Black or Dave Roberts. How about Joe Girardi? Andy Green may be very smart but to me he lacks good old baseball common sense.