Padres get shutout, 2-0, in loss to the Nationals at home

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Padres get shutout, 2-0, in loss to the Nationals at home

By Isaiah Zuravel
June 24, 2023

The Padres' bats went ice cold in their 2-0 defeat to the Washington Nationals on Saturday.

SAN DIEGO – The Padres Saturday night went back to the team they have been all season. After a promising win last night, fans hoped this would be the start of a big run. They would be dead wrong as the Padres tonight got shut out by one of the league’s worst teams. The Nationals bats reached the seats twice as they had 2 solo home runs by Jeimer Candelario and Lane Thomas. The Padres bullpen had a solid showing having 5 different pitchers come in giving up no runs.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Bats go cold, again

The Padres on the night only tallied 4 hits. The Padres all year have been inconsistent offensively and the past two games have been prime examples. After scoring the second most runs all season last night, they parlay that into 0 runs tonight. Tonight was a seriously bad look for the team being shut out by one of the league’s worst teams. An inconsistent effort by the team is a big reason why they haven’t been able to get anything going this season. There is no reason to go from 13 runs one night to 0 the next night.

The Knuckleball

Matt Waldron, a 26-year-old right-handed pitcher made his debut tonight for the Padres. He had a stat line of 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, and 2 Ks. Not a terrible start that did leave the team with a chance to win the game. He only gave up two solo home runs which shows promise as he didn’t get into many tough spots. He became the first player to throw a knuckleball in a major league game in 2 years. Unfortunately, the bats did not show up which overshadowed his debut.

The knuckleball is back

Matt Waldron threw the first knuckleball in an MLB game since Mickey Jannis on June 23, 2021 pic.twitter.com/S7c6TT75Va
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 25, 2023

Lack of Effort

The team came out tonight and flat-out didn’t want it. After winning by such a large margin last night they thought they could just coast to victory just because they are going against a young team. This lack of effort showed with their little amount of opportunities to score tonight. A bullpen that has been the second-worst in the league this year gave up no runs and no walks. The no-walks just mean they are swinging at pitches they shouldn’t be swinging at trying to play hero ball.

The Padres will finish out the series vs the Nationals at 1:10 PST. The Padres will have Seth Lugo on the mound and the Padres face MacKenzie Gore who was a piece of the deal that sent Juan Soto to the Padres.