BREAKING: Padres Lose Another Series
After winning five straight series to end May and start June, the Padres have now won just five of their last 16. This past weekend, they lost 2 out of 3 to the Pittsburgh Pirates and are 11 games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West standings.
The series began with a 6-3 loss at Petco Park. The Padres fell behind early on a passed ball in the 1st inning and the Pirates added 3 more in the 3rd and another in the 4th. Padres starter Eric Lauer went 5 innings giving up 6 runs, 3 of which were earned, on 9 hits. The Padres made things a bit interesting late with 2 runs in the 8th and a run 9th but we unable to claw back anymore as they dropped the first game of the series.
The Padres rebounded on Saturday night and came away with a hard-fought 4-3 win. San Diego took the lead in the bottom of the second on a RBI groundout and then Wil Myers hit his 2nd home run of the year in the bottom of the 3rd to extend the Padres lead to 2-0.
Myers hot night continued in the 5th when he drove in 2 more runners with an RBI double to push the Padres ahead even further 4-0. The Pirates got on the board in the top of the 6tth, and made things very nerve wracking for the Padres in the 9th. The first three Pirate batters of the inning reached and cut the deficit to 4-3 with nobody out and a runner on third. However Brad Hand shut things down from there, retiring the next three batters and preserving the win for the Padres.
The Padres were done in by a two out, 5th inning grand slam on Sunday in a 7-5 loss. Trailing 3-2, Pirates third baseman Colin Moran hit a grand slam off Tyson Ross to put the Pirates ahead 6-3, a lead they would not let up. Tyson Ross struggled on the mound, going just 5 innings allowing 7 runs on 7 hits and 3 home runs. Hunter Renfroe hit his 5th home run of the season in the bottom of the 5th inning but the Padres once again found themselves on the short end of the stick.
The Padres record now stands at 37-49. The team has an off day on Monday before they travel up to Oakland, California for a two game series vs the Athletics. Clayton Richard (7-7, 4.29 ERA) will get the start on Tuesday and Wednesday starter has yet to be announced. Following that short series, the Padres will head to Arizona for a four game series vs the NL West leading Diamondbacks.
