Strahm & Tatis Shine, but Padres’ Struggles Continue in 3-2 Loss

Petco Park- San Diego, California

Matt Strahm pitched a gem. Wil Myers dazzled in center field. Fernando Tatis, Jr. did Fernando Tatis, Jr. things. This was no ordinary night at Petco Park.

Unfortunately, these things weren’t enough. The San Diego Padres lost 3-2 to the Cincinnati Reds on April 19. It was the fifth straight loss for San Diego.

Strahm did something no Padres starter has done this season — pitched into the eighth inning. He finished the eighth inning, giving himself a career high. He allowed one run on two hits and struck out five. He didn’t issue any walks.

Strahm’s only mistake came in the top of the first. He gave up a home run to Eugenio Suarez. With an 0-2 count, Strahm threw a 92 mph fastball that caught the outside corner of the plate. Suarez swung and sent it into the outfield seats, giving the Reds a first inning home run for the second straight game.

As for Myers, he made a catch that prevented extra bases. Yasiel Puig got ahold of a fastball that Strahm left up in the zone and sent it to deep center field. Myers ran a long way and somehow came up with the catch, watching the ball drop into his outstretched glove. According to mlb.com’s AJ Cassavell, Myers traveled 102 feet in 5.3 seconds. Myers had a 55 percent chance of making the catch, Cassavell said.

Tatis, Jr. hit his team-leading sixth home run of the season in the bottom of the third inning. He swung at the first pitch of the at-bat, a pitch that was left in the middle of the zone by Reds starter Anthony Desclafani. The ball left the yard, traveling over the center field wall at 110.1 mph. It traveled 438 feet. So far this season, Tatis is hitting .296/.363/.606 with a 150 wRC+.

Runs and scoring opportunities were mostly scarce in this game. Tatis’s home run in the third inning tied the score at 1-1. It stayed that way through the ninth, and the game went into extra innings.

.@tatis_jr tattoos it. pic.twitter.com/CrqQUepgG0

— MLB (@MLB) April 20, 2019

The score remained 1-1 until the top of the 11th inning. With a runner at second, Derick Dietrich sent a pitch from Craig Stammen over the wall in right, giving the Reds a 3-1 lead.

Tatis drew a walk in the bottom of the 11th. He stole both second and third and then scored on an RBI-groundout by Eric Hosmer. Tatis scored both of the Padres’ runs.

The Padres and Reds meet again on April 20 for the third game of this four-game series. The game is scheduled to begin at 5:40 PDT.

Mike Ursery

Mike is the sports editor for the Fayette Advertiser, and has been with East Village Times since 2015. His work has appeared on Bleacher Report. He is an avid Padres fan who is keeping the faith and trusting the process.