The San Diego Padres dropped a series for the first time since the opening week of the season with a 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, but they had opportunities to prevent that. In the end, the offense did not do enough, and the bullpen struggled to keep runs off the board. Miguel Andujar and Nick Castellanos hit their first home runs for San Diego. Both came in the bottom of the fifth inning and broke up what was a no-hit shutout for Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon. The home runs allowed
the Padres to tie the game 3-3, and with Adrian Morejon coming out of the ‘pen, most of San Diego thought the team could author another late-inning comeback to take the rubber match of the series. Instead, the Cubs manufactured a run off the left-hander following a leadoff walk to Michael Busch to start the top of the sixth inning. A ground out pushed him to second base before a double by Matt Shaw put runners at second and third with one out. Pete Crow-Armstrong hit another ground out for the second out of the inning, but Busch scored from third and Chicago took a 4-3 lead. Bradgley Rodriguez came in to get the final out of the inning, but the damage had been done.
Jason Adam came on in the top of the eighth after Rodriguez worked a scoreless seventh and he surrendered a solo home run to Shaw that gave the Cubs a 5-3 lead. The Padres had a golden opportunity in the bottom of the eighth inning. Chicago reliever Corbin Martin allowed three walks to open the inning, which loaded the bases for Fernando Tatis Jr. with no outs. Martin was pulled from the game and Tatis Jr. faced Ben Brown. Tatis Jr. hit a flyball to center field, which allowed a run to score and left runners at first and third with the score 5-4 and Manny Machado coming to the plate. Machado saw one pitch before hitting a ground ball to second base, which resulted in an inning-ending double play and essentially put an end to the game.
The Padres have the day off before hosting the Chicago White Sox for three games.
Padres News:
- Thomas Harrigan of MLB.com explains how Mason Miller could be the first reliever since 2003 to win the Cy Young Award.
- Samad Taylor is trying to keep his results from Spring Training going in the regular season and it resulted in a win for the El Paso Chihuahuas.
- Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune says the three-game series between the Padres and Cubs could have been a preview of what is to come in October.
- Tatis Jr. is hitting the ball harder than ever according to Dennis Lin of The Athletic, but it has yet to result in a home run for the star outfielder.
Baseball News:
- The Atlanta Braves stayed hot and kept to their winning ways thanks to a Matt Olson walk-off home run off Detroit Tigers closer Kenley Jansen after Tarik Skubal pitched seven strong innings to start the game.
- Ildemaro Vargas extended his hit streak to 22 games and helped the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Milwaukee Brewers.
- The Miami Marlins beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 and took the series from the defending World Series champions.
- The White Sox walked off the Los Angeles Angels to sweep the series before heading to San Diego.
- Nate Eovaldi delivered for the Texas Rangers as they knock off the New York Yankees.
