Padres Struggles Continue
Last week I wrote about the Padres recent struggles following their hot start and those struggles continued this weekend in their series vs the Cincinnati Reds.
After dropping game one on Thursday 4-1, San Diego lost again on Friday 3-2.
Eugenio Suarez homered in the top of the 1st but Fernando Tatis Jr tied the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the 3rd, his sixth long ball of the season.
Padres starter Matt Strahm was spectacular in his start going 8 innings allowing one run on just two hits but the offense was unable to pick him up and the game went to extra innings tied at 1.
Derek Dietrich’s two run bomb in the top of the 11th gave Cincinnati a 3-1 lead. Eric Hosmer drove in a run in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI groundout but the Reds shut the door from there handing San Diego its fifth straight loss.
Once again on Saturday the Padres offense failed to score against the Reds pitching.
San Diego fell behind in the 1st inning again but Eric Hosmer tied the game in the 2nd with a solo home run, his second of the season.
The Reds scored single runs in the 4th, 5th and 7th innings to take a 4-1 lead. Hosmer drove in a run in the 8th to cut the lead to 4-2 but the rally would be extinguished after that and the Padres would suffer their sixth straight loss 4-2.
The losing skid finally came to an end Sunday in a 4-3 win.
Tatis Jr. hit in his tenth straight ballgame.
After falling behind early again, Austin Hedges hit his third home run of the year, which tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the third.
Wil Myers two run double later in the inning made it 3-1 Padres and Eric Hosmer doubled and drove in Myers extending the lead to 4-1.
Joey Lucchesi had a strong outing on the mound going 5.2 innings allowing one run on five hits and struck out eight.
Things got a bit sticky in the late innings as Cincinnati homered twice in the top of the 7th to cut the lead to 4-3 but the Padres bullpen survived as Kirby Yates picked up his tenth save of the year and the Padres won for the first time since April 13th.
San Diego’s record now stands at 12-11, good enough for second place in the NL West, 2.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Padres had an off day Monday before beginning a short two game series vs. the Seattle Mariners at Petco Park. Nick Margevicius (1-2, 3.60 ERA) will start on Tuesday with Chris Paddack (0-1, 2.25 ERA) taking the mound on Wednesday.
