Tatis injured, Padres lose 3-2 to Giants on somber night
Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Petco Park- San Diego, California
The San Diego Padres (3-2) began their second series of the season against the San Francisco Giants (2-2) on Monday night. The Friars came into the series having won three of four over the opening weekend.
Adrian Morejon made his first start of the season as San Diego’s No. 5 starter. He allowed a leadoff single in the first inning but was able to strand the runner. He then allowed a leadoff home run to Darin Ruf in the second inning, giving the Giants an early 1-0 lead.
He settled in to throw a scoreless third inning but ran into trouble in the fourth, allowing a homer to Evan Longoria and a walk. He was about to induce a double play to kill the rally, and he survived four innings with just the two earned runs.
At 64 pitches, manager Jayce Tingler decided to pinch-hit for Morejon in the bottom of the fourth to try and prolong a rally, which was unsuccessful. This was an encouraging outing for the young Cuban lefty, who showed an ability to work out of jams and bounce back from adversity. All in all, he caused 10 swings-and-misses and topped 98 mph four times.
The real story of the game was the injury to Fernando Tatis Jr. in the bottom of the third inning. Tatis took a violent swing for strike three at a pitch from Anthony DeSclafani and crumpled to the ground in intense pain. The entire crowd at Petco Park fell eerily silent. Their prized $340 million shortstop and the current face of baseball was lying in the dirt in obvious discomfort. He left the game clutching his arm. Images of the spring training game in which he left the field with shoulder discomfort came flying back to memory. Especially after he and the team explained this was an ongoing issue that he had been dealing with for a long time.
Fernando Tatis Jr. left the Padres game tonight holding his left forearm after hurting himself on this swing
Prayers up 🙏
(via @NBCSGiants)pic.twitter.com/d58gxLOZPx
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 6, 2021
Perhaps now it has come to an ugly head.
All of the Friar faithful will be holding their collective breath for the prognosis on what the Padres announced later in the game was left shoulder subluxation for the star shortstop. He will be re-evaluated on Tuesday.
The Padres tried to soldier through the game without their 22-year-old phenom, but the wind was clearly taken from their sails.
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Nabil Crismatt took over for Morejon and tossed a scoreless fifth inning. Craig Stammen entered the game and worked a scoreless sixth. He then hit for himself and singled in the bottom of the sixth as the Padres tied the game at two thanks to a sacrifice fly from Victor Caratini after a triple by Jurickson Profar.
Stammen entered the seventh for a second inning of work and Mike Yastrzemski greeted him with a solo homer to give the Giants the lead again. Jake McGee came in to try and close the ninth for the save. Manny Machado worked a walk with two outs. Eric Hosmer got hit by a pitch in the forearm ahead of Tommy Pham, who lined a ball into deep center field, but it found the glove of Mauricio Dubon to end the game. The Padres dropped the first game of the series. More importantly, they lost the heart and soul of the team for an undetermined amount of time.
The Friars look to even the series on Tuesday when ace Yu Darvish takes the hill for his second start of 2021.
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.