Stammen struggles again, Padres fall 4-3
Denver, Colorado
The San Diego Padres dropped game two against the Colorado Rockies 4-3 on a Daniel Murphy walk-off single.
The Padres fall to 20-15 on the season with the loss, and their lead over the Rockies is back to two games.
Trent Grisham led the game off with a double, but the Padres failed to score him, wasting an early scoring opportunity.
For the eighth straight game, San Diego’s opponent scored first. Michel Baez pitched two scoreless innings to start the game, but the Rockies got to him in the third inning for one run.
Luis Perdomo relieved Baez in the third inning. He recorded five outs on nine pitches with a double play and a strikeout. His ERA is nearing five on the season after being over ten just over two weeks ago.
Luis Perdomo on a run of seven scoreless innings.
— Kevin Acee (@sdutKevinAcee) August 30, 2020
The Padres were quiet most of the night offensively. They did get a scoring opportunity in the sixth inning, but Wil Myers grounded out to strand Eric Hosmer and Jake Cronenworth.
Luis Patiño followed up Perdomo with two scoreless innings. His ERA is now down below five on the season, and he looks more comfortable each time he goes out to pitch.
To start the seventh inning, Matt Kemp reached against Patiño. Manager Jayce Tingler elected to bring in Matt Strahm to relieve Patiño.
Patiño’s runner scored, and Strahm allowed an additional run to give the Rockies a 3-0 lead.
Rockies manager Bud Black brought in Carlos Estevez to face the top of the Padres lineup. Estevez is one of Black’s best relievers, but Padres got the best of him in the eighth inning.
Fernando Tatis Jr. got the rally started with a one-out walk, which Manny Machado followed up with a single to move Tatis Jr. to third, extending his hitting streak to 11 games in the process.
With two outs, Cronenworth snuck a ball down the right-field line to drive in both Tatis Jr. and Machado. Still down by one, Myers came to the plate with Cronenworth on second by lacing a single to center field.
Drew Pomeranz pitched for the first time after coming off of the injured list today. He picked up right where he left off by scoring another scoreless inning. He is still yet to allow a run in 2020.
The Padres squandered a lead-off hit from Jurickson Profar in the ninth, so it was up to Craig Stammen to send the game to extra innings.
With Stammen struggling lately, Tingler brought him in to face the bottom of the order. Unfortunately, three out of the four batters reached against Stammen, and the Colorado Rockies walked-off on a Daniel Murphy single.
“We still have a lot of confidence in Craig,” Tingler said about Stammen after the game. “He’s been having to do a lot of the heavy lifting down there in some of our hardest situations.”
Another note on the game was about the strike zone. All night, Ted Barrett struggled behind the plate. He missed some strikes and some balls for both teams. Barrett heard a lot from both dugouts throughout the game, and he fired back at the dugouts multiple times. A.J. Casavell was able to find a joke in it.
good advice advice for most of twitter, myself included pic.twitter.com/rHnxatfAxz
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) August 30, 2020
“It’s challenging,” Tingler said on the umpiring. He surely limited his words to avoid a possible punishment from the MLB.
Chris Paddack will start game three on Sunday. He is looking to bounce back after struggling against the Seattle Mariners on Monday. He will be going up against rookie RHP Ryan Castellani, who boasts a 3.54 ERA in four starts. The first pitch is at 12:10 p.m.
Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”
Being a baseball purest there are some things about Tingler that I fail to understand. I know in Colorado runs come in bunches but I believe you should always strive to take the lead even if its by only one run. In the first why wasn’t Tatis given the sign to move Grisham over to third by either sacrifice or base hit by bunt? I’m sure Machado would have brought him in for the lead. When a pitcher such as Perdomo or Pomeranz is pitching well why are they allowed to only pitch one or two innings. They both have the ability to start so as long as they are looking good why take the chance on bringing someone else in who may get hit hard such as Strahm or Stammen or Guerra? The other night when France, I believe was 3 for 4 and seemingly locked in, why was he not in the lineup the next night? Just doesn’t seem like common sense to me.