With another difficult loss for the San Diego Padres, the Friars are in last place in the National League West with a 2-5 record.
While the offense has been troubling, the real story of the day (and the last week) has been skipper Craig Stammen’s managing of the relief group.
His decision of who to keep out and who to pull have affected games drastically, actually losing three games for San Diego.
Yesterday was — unfortunately — no different.
Michael King pitched five great innings of two-run ball before
coming back out in the sixth. He gave up a home run to Willson Contreras before settling in to get two outs.
After that, with a runner on first, Stammen pulled King in favor of the lefty-on-lefty matchup of Wandy Peralta and Marcelo Mayer.
It backfired immediately.
Mayer took the first pitch deep for a two-run home run to make the Boston Red Sox’s lead 5-2. They wouldn’t surrender the lead after that.
It was a shock to see Stammen pull King. Even the Padres’ broadcasters noted that King himself looked surprised he wouldn’t finish the inning.
Stammen’s the first to admit that he’s learning on the job. While that candor is appreciated, that learning needs to translate to wins soon or the voices calling for the Friars’ manager’s firing will only get louder.
Taking the mound
Connelly Early (BOS) v. Randy Vásquez (SD)
In spite of Boston losing Sunday’s matchup against the Cincinnati Reds, Early dazzled with five-and-a-third innings of one-run ball.
The top prospect for the Sox struck out six but struggled to limit baserunners, allowing five hits and two walks to the Reds.
The Padres struggled to score with RISP last season but have shown potential recently. Hopefully, they’ll be able to solve Early after struggling a bit against Sonny Gray yesterday.
It’s impossible to understate just how good Vásquez’s first outing of 2026 was.
In six innings against the Detroit Tigers, he allowed only two hits and three walks, striking out eight batters along the way. His performance went a long way in assuaging the Friars’ depth concerns in their starting rotation.
If Vásquez can continue to do that against Boston this afternoon, all San Diego will need to do is put some runs up as insurance.
Batter up!
Early is the first lefty the Padres will be facing since Framber Valdez in their series against the Detroit Tigers.
With that in mind, the lineup will likely shift back to what it looked like on Opening Day (with a few tweaks):
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Ramón Laureano, LF
- Gavin Sheets, 1B
- Nick Castellanos, DH
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
- Freddy Fermin, C
Stammen’s lineup construction typically favors career matchups against the starting pitcher. But with the rookie Early on the mound for Boston, he’ll be unable to do so.
This offense showed promise on Wednesday with a seven-run romp against the San Francisco Giants.
In particular, Gavin Sheets’ bat has been hot. Since his first hit of 2026 late Tuesday night, Sheets is 4-for-6 with a walk and two RBI.
Relief corps
With King’s solid 5 2/3 innings, San Diego only had to use two relievers (the aforementioned Peralta and Ron Marinaccio).
That leaves Jeremiah Estrada, Kyle Hart, Adrian Morejon, David Morgan, and Bradgley Rodriguez ahead of closer Mason Miller.
Starter Randy Vásquez had a longer leash than normal in his first start of 2026. That being said, if he falters early the bullpen has plenty of options to pitch in relief.
