The San Diego Padres are scrambling. They couldn’t have picked a worse time to do so. With their loss (and sweep) to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, the club fell a half game outside of the final Wild Card spot, with the Arizona Diamondbacks having split their series against the San Francisco Giants. San Diego has lost five of their last six games in a truly disheartening slump.
It felt like Sunday was the nail in the coffin. The Friars were up 3-1 with Mason Miller pitching the ninth inning. Miller induced a deep fly ball into left field where Samad Taylor made the catch … until he didn’t. Taylor banged into the wall and dropped it over for a game-tying, two-run homer. The Rays went on to win the game in extras. The Padres now face the Cincinnati Reds with a chance to turn things around before returning to Petco Park on Friday.
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Taking the mound
Brady Singer (CIN) v. Michael King (SD)
Singer has been solid this season, though not incredible. He’s dazzled on the mound at times, but struggled in others. The righty owns a 4.72 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. Neither of those marks are fantastic, but he’s found ways to get outs. His strikeout numbers are low, with 112 Ks in 137 1/3 innings.
The right-hander faced the Padres back in June and pitched incredibly well. Singer hurled six innings of two-run ball, stranding six hits and a walk from the San Diego lineup. That said, the Padres still won that game on a Fernando Tatis Jr. walk-off homer. Maybe that magic can return in tonight’s game.
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King has been the most valuable player on this Padres’ team. He has spent the year pitching like an ace for the club, posting a 3.23 ERA through 156 innings. In his last seven starts, King has a fantastic 2.95 ERA and has pitched 42 2/3 innings. That means that King has gone an average of six-plus innings in each of his last seven starts.
That said, King has struggled against this Reds lineup. The majority of the players who have faced him have hit him well. JJ Bleday leads that group, hitting .429 with a 1.457 OPS in seven at-bats. Hopefully, King will be able to calm down Cincinnati’s recently hot bats, and get enough run support to return the Padres to form.
Batter up!
The lineup looked really healthy during the Padres’ series versus the Rays. The club scored 14 runs throughout the first half of the road trip, but their pitching staff couldn’t hold on. They’ll need to turn that around in order to continue on their red-hot pace.
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Despite his game-tying drop in left field, Taylor went 1-for-1 at the plate after entering the game as a pinch-hitter. He also scored a run. Taylor has been gone since being placed on the injured list in early July due to a right oblique strain. If he can spark this club the way he did before, it would be a major turn for San Diego.
Relief corps
Robbie Ray pitched six stellar innings of ball, followed by a fantastic performance from the bullpen. Bradgley Rodriguez redeemed himself, pitching a perfect inning, followed by another from Adrian Morejon. Miller came on and gave up a single before the second home run of his season. Yuki Matsui navigated trouble in the 10th before David Morgan lost the game in the 11th.
The extra innings hurt the ‘pen’s depth somewhat, though not by much. Thankfully, San Diego should be able to rely on King to shove in his start today. That means that Griffin Canning, Kyle Hart and Wandy Peralta likely won’t need to be called on until later in the game (and hopefully with a sizable lead).
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