Padres Week in Review: Bullpen Implosion Dampens Otherwise Good Road Trip

[Steve Drumwright]

San Diego Padres Weekly Snapshot

Record last week: 3-2

Runs scored last week: 27

Runs allowed last week: 32

Scores

• Game 23 (Tuesday): Padres 1, Rockies 0
• Game 24 (Wednesday): Rockies 8, Padres 3
• Game 25 (Thursday): Padres 10, Rockies 8
• Game 26 (Saturday): Padres 6, Diamondbacks 4
• Game 27 (Sunday): Diamondbacks 12, Padres 6

Series Breakdown/Highlights

Rockies series

Game 1: For just the 12th time history and the first time involving the Padres, there was a 1-0 game at Coors Field. And thanks to right-handed starter Randy Vasquez, the Friars came out on top for their 14th win in 16 games and beat the Rockies for the seventh straight time, five of which have been this season. Vasquez struck out five, didn't issue a walk and allowed just three hits while matching his career high of seven innings in a terrific performance that lowered his ERA to 1.88. It was the third consecutive game a Padres starter went at least five innings and didn't allow a run and it was the second time Vasquez had a scoreless start, matching his season debut March 28, when he went six innings and allowed two hits vs. the Detroit Tigers. The Padres got the only run they would need in the sixth inning. After Freddy Fermin flew out to the wall in right-center, Jake Cronenworth grounded a hustle double to right-center, snapping a streak of 12 straight batters retired by Rockies right-hander Chase Dollander. Fernando Tatis Jr. had an infield single off the third baseman with two outs and Jackson Merrill was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Manny Machado. Entering the game with a measly .186 batting average, Machado drew his 17th walk in 22 games this season, earning a full-count free pass to drive in Cronenworth. Right-hander Jason Adam pitched a perfect eighth and left-hander Adrian Morejon was the surprising closer with a perfect ninth for his sixth career save. Mason Miller was unavailable having pitched in four of the previous six games. The Padres retired the final 18 hitters.

Game 2: It had been a while since the Padres truly had a stinker. Setting aside losses to Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Jose Soriano of the Los Angeles Angels, you probably have to look back to the second series of the season against the San Francisco Giants. A poor start by right-hander Walker Buehler and an offense that couldn't get going paved the way for an 8-3 loss, snapping a three-game winning streak. It was just the second loss in 13 games. Buehler couldn't make it out of the third inning, giving up a four-run second inning and leaving with the bases loaded after a double and two walks. He threw 82 pitches, only 47 of which were strikes. The Padres did get seven hits, but couldn't put together a rally. Luis Campusano had three hits in four trips to the plate, including his second homer of the season, a solo shot in the seventh inning. He also had a pair of doubles and scored twice.

Game 3: Not in the starting lineup had to be a bummer for first baseman Gavin Sheets. Luckily, he got a chance to come off the bench to provide a huge present to all the Padres. Sheets, who wears No. 30 and was celebrating his 30th birthday, crushed a three-run homer to cap a five-run ninth inning for a 10-8 come-from-behind victory over the Rockies. The Padres were down 5-2 after the fourth inning and 8-4 following the seventh. Ramon Laureano started the rally with a two-out RBI single in the eighth, but the real party was in the ninth. Merrill drew a four-pitch walk off right-hander Victor Vodnik, Machado hit an opposite-field single to right, Xander Bogaerts singled to center to plate Merrill and Miguel Andujar singled to right to bring in Machado to make it 8-7. Vodnik remained in the game to face Sheets, who crushed the first pitch he saw for his third homer of the season, his second game-deciding homer in two weeks, both vs. the Rockies. According to OptaStats, Sheets is the first player in MLB history to hit go-ahead homers of three runs or more vs. the same opponent twice in the same month. The comeback, which has become a habit for the Friars, overcame a second poor start from right-hander Matt Waldron, who took over the rotation spot vacated by injured Opening Day starter Nick Pivetta. Waldron allowed five runs in the first two innings, including a four-run second. But after imploring manager Craig Stammen to remain in the game, Waldron allowed one more run over the next three innings to make it through the fifth. Sheets' dramatic homer gave Miller a chance to for his ninth save in as many chances this year. He did that, although not in the fashion we have become accustom to. Miller failed to strike out any of the three batters he faced, giving up a single and two groundouts, including a game-ending double play. Still, Miller matched Cla Meredith's club record of 33⅔ scoreless innings set in 2006.

Diamondbacks series

Game 1: Playing at 7,350 feet above sea level in the Mexico City Series, the Padres got a pair of home runs from Ty France, but it was a three-run seventh inning that paved the way for a 6-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Friars were down 4-1 entering the seventh. Again, it started with a Merrill walk, followed by a Machado single and a Bogaerts walk to load the bases. After a pitching change, Sheets attacked the first pitch and lined a single to right, scoring Merrill and Machado to pull the Padres within 4-3. France reached on an error to load the bases again, then Fermin lined out to left with Bogaerts scoring easily. Cronenworth was hit by a pitch to load the bases for the third time in the inning and Laureano lifted a fly ball deep the right-field corner that was caught, scoring Sheets with the fourth run of the unconventional rally. France, who homered in the fifth to pulled the Padres within 4-1, capped the scoring with his second homer of the game in the ninth.

The Friars needed to rally after right-handed starter German Marquez gave up four runs in the second inning after retiring the first five batters in the game, with the big blow being Alex Thomas' two-run homer. Marquez was otherwise good. He went six innings, allowing six hits and a walk with two strikeouts. After shutout innings by left-hander Adrian Morejon and right-hander Jason Adam, Miller came on to retire the side in order, without a strikeout for the second straight outing, en route to his MLB-leading 10th save. It also allowed Miller to break Meredith's club record of 33⅔ innings. Miller hasn't allowed a run in 34⅔ innings, which is 6⅓ shy of the MLB record for a reliever.

Game 2: The comeback kings had the tables turned on them as the Diamondbacks scored 10 runs over the seventh and eighth innings to win 12-7 and split the two-game Mexico City Series. A strong start by right-hander Michael King and Machado's first two-homer game of the season helped the Padres go up 7-1 in the top of the sixth. But the D'backs scored once in the sixth, six times in the seventh and four more in the eighth in a rare stinker by the Padres' bullpen. King struck out eight and allowed two runs on three hits and a walk over six innings to put the Friars in position for a sweep. But right-hander David Morgan could only get one out in the seventh as Tim Tawa hit a grand slam. Bradgley Rodriguez gave up the other two in the seventh and Ron Marinaccio coughed up all four in the eighth.

Machado hit a two-run homer in the third inning and a three-run blast in the fifth for his five-RBI day. Machado has four homers this year. Campusano added a solo shot, his third homer of the year, in the sixth. Now the Friars—after a week in altitude between Denver and Mexico City and following a 5-3 road trip that spanned 10 days—return to Petco Park for Chicago week: three games vs. the Cubs (Monday-Wednesday) and three more against the White Sox (Friday-Sunday).

Marvelous Mason Miller

Some of the amazing stats for the Padres' closer:

• 1-0 record, 0.00 ERA, 13 games, 13⅓ innings, 10 saves, three hits, two walks, 27 strikeouts, 0.71 opponent batting average, 0.38 WHIP.
• 10 saves lead MLB.
• His club-record shutout streak (34⅔ innings in 33 games) is the longest by any pitcher (starter or reliever) since 44⅓ innings by Arizona's Zac Gallen in 2022 and the longest by a reliever since 38 innings by Milwaukee's Josh Hader also in 2022.
• Is the first pitcher in the expansion era (1961) to have a scoreless streak of at least 34 innings and strike out at least 70.
• Has allowed just seven hits—all singles—during his streak covering 107 at-bats (.065) with 17.91 strikeouts per nine innings.

 

 

 

 

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Random Stats

• Eight of Randy Vasquez's 51 starts as a Padre have come against the Rockies. He hasn't made more than four against any other team.
• Since their expansion season of 1969, the Friars have 115 1-0 victories, which ranks third in MLB during that span. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers (143) and New York Mets (120) have more.
• The Padres have outscored their opponents 25-1 in the ninth inning this season. Their 25 runs in the ninth lead MLB.
• After Thursday's rally, the Padres were the only team in MLB this season to come back from three runs down in the ninth inning or later and won. They have done so twice this year.
• Saturday was the fifth time already this season the Friars have come back from a four-run deficit at any point of the game to win, two more than any other team. The Padres had a grand total of two last year.
• The Padres are 18-9 for the third-best record in MLB and half a game behind the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers (19-9). Atlanta leads MLB at 20-9.

Transactions

• Wednesday: Signed free-agent RHP Lucas Giolito and assigned him to Low-A Lake Elsinore.
• Wednesday: Transferred RHP Bryan Hoeing (torn right flexor tendon) from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list.
• Friday: Sent RHP Jeremiah Estrada on a rehab assignment to Lake Elsinore.
• Saturday: Recalled 3B Sung-Mun Song from El Paso as extra player for Mexico City Series.

Website Highlights

• Giolito is the best answer the Padres could have come up with — Randy Holt
• Padres are winning in spite of their offense — Randy Holt
• How the Seidler family revamped the Padres — Andy Johnson
• How the 2026 Padres stack up in a deep NL — Brendan Dentino

Looking Ahead

• Monday: Cubs (Matthew Boyd) at Padres (Randy Vasquez), 6:40 p.m.
• Tuesday: Cubs at (Edward Cabrera) Padres (Walker Buehler), 6:40 p.m.
• Wednesday: Cubs at (Jameson Taillon) Padres (Matt Waldron), 1:10 p.m.
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: White Sox (Noah Schultz) at Padres (German Marquez), 6:40 p.m.
• Saturday: White Sox (Sean Burke) at Padres (Michael King), 5:40 p.m.
• Sunday: White Sox (Anthony Kay) at Padres (Randy Vasquez), 1:10 p.m.

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