The San Diego Padres took their first loss of the season, falling 3-1 to the Chicago Cubs on Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field. The Padres were off to a 7-0 start in the 2025 campaign.
Cubs starter Shota Imanaga allowed one run and four hits with four strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. In three starts this season, the left-hander has given up only two runs in 18 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts and seven hits.
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Chicago opened the scoring with Nico Hoerner drawing a bases-loaded walk against starter Randy Vásquez. Vásquez walked the bases full with two outs in the first inning, putting Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson on base after getting Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki to fly out.
Only one of Vásquez’s five pitches to Hoerner was in the strike zone, with two of his cutters sailing far outside.
San Diego tied the score at 1-1 on Martín Maldonado’s first home run of the year, the only run that Imanaga allowed.
The Cubs broke the tie with two runs in the fifth as Vásquez loaded the bases again with two outs, giving up a single followed by two walks.
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Yuki Matsui took over for Vásquez and allowed an RBI single to pinch-hitter Justin Turner. Swanson then hit a ball off Manny Machado’s glove, which was scored an error, to bring another run in.
Porter Hodge and Ryan Pressly pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to close out the win, improving the Cubs to 6-4. Pressly earned his third save of the season, despite allowing a hit and a walk in the ninth and bringing the go-ahead run to the plate.
The Padres’ seven-game winning streak to open their season equaled their longest run of consecutive wins from last season. San Diego eventually finished second in the NL West, five games behind the Dodgers. They made the postseason as a wild card, defeating the Atlanta Braves before losing to Los Angeles in the divisional round.
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