All fans of the San Diego Padres know and understand the formula for a Padres win. Get a decent performance from the starting pitcher while the offense does just enough to get a one or two-run lead and then give the ball to the bullpen and let the some of the top relievers in the game secure the win. That formula has been flawed in recent weeks, see Mason Miller allowing home runs in back-to-back outings or Bradgley Rodriguez having the worst inning of his young career, and it failed once again in a 4-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.
The Padres and Reds played to a 2-2 tie heading into the bottom of the eighth inning and San Diego manager Craig Stammen went to one of the most trusted arms in his ‘pen in Adrian Morejon to get to the ninth inning. Morejon has been called on in more stressful situations and has excelled, but a tie game in the eighth proved to be too much in this outing. Morejon walked Elly De La Cruz and allowed a single to Sal Stewart to put runners on the corners for Cincinnati. He then got JJ Bleday to groundout to Fernando Tatis Jr. at second base for the first out of the inning. Morejon issued an intentional walk to Matt McLain and was looking for a double-play ball to get out of the inning. Instead, Jose Trevino singled to center to give the Reds a 3-2 lead. Morejon got an out when the next batter hit a fly out to left field, but it also produced another run and put Cincinnati ahead, 4-2. Morejon was pulled and replaced by David Morgan who got the first batter he faced to fly out to end the inning.
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The Padres stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth in a two-run hole and the first two batters, Sung-Mun Song and Jake Cronenworth flied out for the first two outs of the inning. Tatis stepped up trying to get on to give San Diego a chance to get the tying run to the plate and he did just that. Tatis hit an opposite field home run to right, his second of the game, to cut the deficit to 4-3 and Samad Taylor came to the plate looking to extend the game. Taylor saw four pitches, the last of which was up and out of the zone, and struck out to end the game.
San Diego had several opportunities early in the game to score and failed to come through with a timely hit. The Padres loaded the bases in the top of the third inning after Jase Bowen started the frame with a leadoff triple. Tatis grounded out to short, which kept Bowen at third and then Taylor was hit by a pitch. Manny Machado walked to load the bases with one out, but Ty France grounded into an inning-ending double play.
San Diego also had a golden opportunity in the top of the seventh inning when Dustin Harris worked a leadoff walk. He then stole second before Freddy Fermin reached on a catcher’s interference. With two on and no outs, Bowen and Tatis struck out and Taylor grounded into a force out to end the threat. A similar situation occurred in the top of the eighth inning. Merrill hit a two-out double and Xander Bogaerts was intentionally walked. Luis Campusano was called on to pinch-hit against a left on the mound and he struck out on three pitches.
The missed opportunities throughout the game proved costly to the Padres who finished a miserable 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. This is a recurring stat that has been problematic for San Diego throughout its latest skid that saw a series loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, a sweep by the Tampa Bay Rays and now sets the Padres up to potentially lose another series to the Reds.
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San Diego will try to take the series with a win in the final game against Cincinnati today at 9:40 a.m., which would send the Padres back to Petco Park with a losing road trip at 2-4.
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