Padres show resolve amid rough patch: 'Got to regroup'

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres have fallen into their first rough patch of the season. They’ve lost three straight, four of five and six of eight. It was bound to happen at some point -- and considering the injuries they’re dealing with, it was probably going to happen sooner rather than later.

But this one was different.

The Padres lost to the Rays, 4-1, on Saturday night at Petco Park. They snapped their 30-inning scoreless drought with Fernando Tatis Jr.’s sixth-inning RBI single. But the struggles persisted nonetheless. In some ways, they got worse.

After back-to-back losses -- on Wednesday in Detroit and on Friday at home against the Rays -- Shildt and the Padres were quick to tip their cap to the opposing pitcher. They were beaten. It happens. But Saturday ...

“Tonight was uncharacteristic in that we beat ourselves a little bit,” Shildt said. “Six walks. Didn’t play as clean defensively. A little bit of over-aggression, trying to force things on the bases. … So now it’s just a matter of getting back to what we know, how we win games.”

In some ways, Saturday marked the Padres’ first truly sloppy game of the season. They ran into outs on the bases. Their veteran infielders committed key errors. Dylan Cease, who hasn’t quite put it together yet this season, struggled to find the strike zone, issuing four walks.

“Better at-bats overall as a group, clean it up on the bases, keep playing defense -- better defense,” Tatis said. “We’ve just got to regroup together.”

The Padres of course, are in the midst of a brutal run of injury luck. They’ve had to replace four spots in their starting lineup -- Jackson Merrill, Jake Cronenworth, Luis Arraez and both halves of their Jason Heyward/Brandon Lockridge platoon.

It would only be natural for a team to overcompensate when faced with that level of attrition. Still, the Padres have played largely solid, clean baseball -- even as they’ve struggled over the past week.

“Tonight’s the first night I’ve kind of seen it a little bit,” Shildt said. “... Guys are competing their tails off. Guys are hungry. We want to get back on the good side of this thing -- and we will. You just feel guys trying to do a little bit too much.”

That was one point Shildt wanted to make clear. The sloppiness, he said, was not the result of a lack of effort. He contends it’s quite the opposite.

“I’m not concerned about it,” Shildt said. “This group will regroup. But they care. They’re caring. They’re competing their tails off. They want to do it, especially at home. We’ve got to let the game come to us, play our game, and we’ll be just fine.”

In each of the first two innings, the Padres ran into outs -- including Tirso Ornelas getting picked off at first base in the second. Then, in the third, Xander Bogaerts and Jose Iglesias let a routine popup drop on the infield in an ugly miscommunication. It led to a run. In the eighth, Manny Machado threw errantly to second base on a would-be forceout, which led to another run.

Given the state of the Padres’ injured list, the margin for error is thin right now. The problem is: They all know that margin for error is thin.

“That’s baseball sometimes,” Cease said. “We’re all battling.”

Cease himself has yet to pitch up to his ace-caliber standards this season. He has notched a 5.76 ERA through his first six starts (though that ERA is perhaps skewed because of his nine-run implosion earlier this month in West Sacramento).

“It’s not something that’s not necessarily far away,” Cease said. “I’m just not quite in that good rhythm right now. … It wasn’t great today. Obviously, the walks aren’t good. I’m battling. But definitely need to be better.”

Meanwhile, righty reliever Logan Gillaspie appears to have joined the growing list of injuries. He exited the game with an oblique issue, coming up hobbled after throwing a pitch in the seventh. He could become the 12th Padre currently on the injured list.

“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us,” Shildt said. “Nobody at all. And we’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves. We haven’t -- and we won’t. It’s a chin-up, figure-it-out clubhouse. And I feel the same way. We’re more than capable of being able to do it, putting it together.”