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.¡±