Too Little Too Late for Padres as They Fall to Pirates 6-4
Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
San Diego, California
Cal Quantrill made his third major league start on Sunday, toeing the rubber against the Pittsburgh Pirates, opposite Joe Musgrove.
Things got off to a very rocky start for Quantrill and the Padres as the Pirates plated four runs in the first inning after Josh Bell singled in a run and Colin Moran opened it up with a three-run shot, making it 4-0 after one inning.
Quantrill was able to settle down and limit any additional damage until the fifth inning when he allowed a fifth run to cross the plate. All in all, Quantrill pitched five innings with five earned runs on eight hits, two walks, and two strikeouts.
Musgrove had a no-hitter going against San Diego until Eric Hosmer singled in the fifth inning.
The Padres remained down 5-0 until the bottom of the seventh inning when Greg Garcia led off with a double and then he scored on an Alex Dickerson RBI single.
Hosmer reached on an error ahead of Hunter Renfroe, who sent a ball 423 feet into the bullpen over the left-center wall for a three-run homer, cutting the Pittsburgh lead to one.
Needed a spark. Got it. 💥#FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/gvDAzIGDWJ
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 19, 2019
In the eighth inning, the Pirates were able to get a run back with a Moran RBI single off of Robbie Erlin. Erlin pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing one run and striking out three.
Craig Stammen and Brad Wieck pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief after the Pirates made it 6-4. Against All-Star closer Felipe Vazquez, the Padres were able to get the tying run at the plate after Renfroe’s single with two outs. The next batter, Austin Hedges, struck out swinging to end the game as the Pirates won 6-4.
The Padres dropped the four-game series with their third straight loss and fell below .500 for the first time all season, at 23-24. They now host the Arizona Diamondbacks for three games to round out the homestand.
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.
When you keep putting these scrubs in start after start what results do you really expect?? Padres starting rotation sucks so bad that I’ve lost interest in watching these games, they always good enough to lose , I don’t care wether they kept you in the game the bottom line is .. it’s the same lame story always good enough to lose and it’s been like this for a long time and never seems to get better smdh
Well, a great start to the season now feels squandered. It’s hard to understand why Preller stopped after adding Machado, when he should have added a starter and a couple of hitters.
But it’s also likely that the doofus manager wouldn’t know what to do with good players anyway. Yesterday’s game was yet another one where Green left the starter in until the game was out of reach. When that happens in the 1st inning, okay, this is not a playoff game and you’ll have to let your starter try to work out of it. But when that happens in the 4th, 5th and 6th inning, when it’s the 3rd time through the lineup, that is a self inflicted wound. With Green it happens over and over and over again.
And to bat Kinsler leadoff and Hosmer 2nd for most of the season is just embarrassingly dumb. This is a true talent level 75-78 win team that had, and might still have, a chance to sneak in to the playoffs, but only if Andy Green starts to manage with some urgency, or is replaced.
The Padres season is almost over, the starting pitching as a whole is below average, the bullpen is average and the hitting has been average so far. NOT a playoff team.
Uninspired. That perhaps the best way to describe this team (that, or zilchy).
Quantrill is not MLB level talent. Neither is the majority of their bullpen. Their offense wreaks. Most hitters are underperforming, to be generous.
Time for a change!!