The San Diego Padres began the past week one game up on the LA Dodgers and going into LA for a three-game series. Things did not go well. After being swept in those three games and finding themselves two games behind their rivals, the Padres continued not playing well and lost their first game at home to the San Franciso Giants.
Some of their woes can be blamed on the lack of situational hitting, being out homered or falling behind in every game. The biggest concern would have to be the failure of the starters
in two of those three games. Because of the injury to Michael King, the Padres had a pseudo-bullpen game on 8/15. Wandy Peralta pitched as the opener, Randy Vasquez followed with 3.2 innings and Jeremiah Estrada/Yuki Matsui/Mason Miller finished up. As a group, they allowed three runs, but the bats were dead quiet against Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw and their bullpen.
Dylan Cease and Yu Darvish followed with two short and damaging starts, but the last game was tied going into the eighth inning and Robert Suarez faltered, allowing the winning home run.
New Padres starter, Nestor Cortes, had a difficult game against the Giants on the first of the four-game home series. He managed 5.2 innings, but gave up four runs on seven hits. The team rallied, but came up short at the end.
From Tuesday through Thursday, the Friars picked it up. Padres ace Nick Pivetta stopped the bleeding and new lefty JP Sears came back up after some time working in El Paso, and contributed an excellent six innings with one run allowed.
They ended the week with a 3-4 record and are 72-56 overall. They are one game behind LA in the NL West and lead the NY Mets by 4.5 games in the second wild card spot. They are only one game behind the Cubs for the first wild card.
Pitching
Dylan Cease continues to ride his personal roller coaster, throwing 8.1 innings over his two starts with eight hits and nine runs allowed, including eight walks despite striking out nine.
The team ERA sits at 3.54, second best in baseball and the bullpen ERA of 2.89 continues to be tops in MLB. Pivetta’s 2.81 ERA is best among Padres starters, and he sits in the top 10 in WAR with a 4.4 bWAR.
Michael King went on the IL on Aug. 14 with left knee inflammation and missed his start on the 15th. He threw a bullpen on 8/21 and is scheduled for a simulated game at Petco on Sunday, Aug. 24. He could then come off the IL in the series versus the Minnesota Twins, if his knee continues to progress.
With Yu Darvish, Nestor Cortes and Nick Pivetta scheduled to pitch in the upcoming LA series, the Padres will most likely need JP Sears again in the Seattle series.
Hitting
The Padres are no longer dealing with lack of production in the bottom third of the lineup. With Jake Cronenworth, Ramón Laureano and Freddy Fermin frequently covering those slots, their combined numbers of a .312 average and .930 OPS is a far cry from the pre-deadline contributions.
With an offense that previously ranked in the bottom five of almost all important categories, the Padres are now hitting .252 as a team, which sits eighth in baseball. Their average with runners in scoring position is .246, still 17th in MLB, but an improvement. Their on-base percentage of .322 is also eighth in baseball.
Their drought against the LA starters is concerning as they had three runs in 17 innings against Snell, Kershaw and Glasnow. That won’t cut it this weekend or in the playoffs. And the lack of home runs is also a concern.
The Padres needing to keep Laureano, Gavin Sheets and Ryan O’Hearn in the lineup as much as possible is not an empty observation by the fans. With Manny Machado going through mini power droughts and Fernando Tatis Jr. suffering from a power outage as well, those three are the bulk of the team home run potential going forward, and must see as much action as possible.,
With the ankle sprain and bone bruise suffered by Jackson Merrill on Friday, Aug. 14, the team has smartly put Sheets in left field and Laureano in center field for most of the games. That has paid off with multiple homers from all three of the big bats and a season high Petco Park high of four home runs against the Giants on Thursday, Aug. 21.
Roster changes
After the start by Randy Vasquez on Aug. 15 he was optioned back down to El Paso and reliever Ron Marinaccio was recalled.
Marinaccio was then sent down to El Paso on Aug. 20 in order for JP Sears to come up for his start. It is likely Sears will stay on the roster to start a game in Minnesota.
- This story was written prior to the result of San Diego’s win over Los Angeles, Friday.
