Despite having some competitive at-bats, the San Diego Padres just couldn’t get it together, falling short in Game 2 against the Kansas City Royals. They’ll now be staving off the sweep against KC in today’s series finale. Starter Griffin Canning went just 3 2/3 innings, surrendering four runs to the Royals. That was more than enough, as San Diego put up just one run in the third inning.
Yesterday was a tough one for the Padres. The club fell short in Game 1 on Friday night after some incredible performances
from the offense and Mason Miller to put the Friars three runs up in the 10th inning. They’d go on to lose the game. The loss in Game 2 felt like San Diego was still shaking off the loss from the night before. They’ll need to regroup to salvage the finale.
Taking the mound
Noah Cameron (KC) v. Germán Márquez (SD)
Like most of the Kansas City rotation, Cameron has seen better days. The lefty owns 4.89 ERA this year after a breakout rookie campaign in 2025 (2.99 ERA, 138.1 IP). He just threw seven innings against the Baltimore Orioles last week, but gave up five runs in the process and earned the loss.
Cameron’s problem has been consistency. (Sound familiar, Friar Faithful?) The left-hander hasn’t been able to locate his pitches well, giving up three or more walks in five of 18 starts this season. He’s walked two or more batters in 11 of 18.
Márquez has looked mostly solid since returning from the IL. The veteran has given up five runs through 12 innings pitched, good for a 3.75 ERA across that time. His last start against the Toronto Blue Jays was tougher, but he made it through four innings having given up just three runs.
The right-hander has faced the majority of the Royals’ lineup before, and it doesn’t look great. Starling Marte and Josh Rojas have the most experience against Márquez (32 combined at-bats) and boast a combined .281 batting average. Hopefully, he’ll be able to quiet their bats this afternoon.
Batter up!
Well, at least Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a home run. The lone run the Friars managed to put up came on Tatis’ sixth homer of the season. Beyond that, the Padres were stymied at every turn by Kansas City’s pitching staff. The club grounded into three double plays, going 1-for-9 with RISP. They’ll need to be better to salvage the series finale.
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Xander Bogaerts, DH
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Gavin Sheets, LF
- Ty France, 1B
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
- Freddy Fermin, C
- Sung-Mun Song, SS
Bogaerts hasn’t had an off day recently and could be penciled in at DH today. That would likely put Song at shortstop, though Cronenworth could move over and rearrange some of the San Diego infield. Either way, the offense needs to score some runs against Cameron.
Relief corps
It wasn’t a bad game for the bullpen by any means. Matt Waldron gave up two runs over 2 1/3 innings before Ron Marcinaccio and Jhony Brito pitched two scoreless frames. That came following Canning’s first regression in quite some time. Thankfully, Waldron saved the ‘pen a bit with his outing.
The Friars will have Kyle Hart, Yuki Matsui, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez available in the series finale this afternoon. All but Hart have been high-leverage options for the Padres to turn to this season. If the offense can get some runs on the board, San Diego shouldn’t have too much trouble staving off the sweep.
