After winning Friday night’s game against Philadelphia, the Padres were looking to keep up the winning streak dating back to before the all-star break. In game one of the doubleheader, the Padres had Blake Snell on the mound. He went 5 innings and struck out 7 batters. He was given a rather short start today as he only threw 82 pitches. He would get out of a bases-loaded jam in his last inning of work. The scoring got started with a Trent Grisham three-run blast. After Snell’s exit is where it would go downhill. Juan Soto had yet another critical error that would cause two runners to score. Then Kyle Schwarber would tie up the in the 7th with a moonshot of a homerun that went 440 ft. The Padres would then show signs of life with a Manny Machado homerun that put him in the 300-homerun club. The bullpen would collapse again giving up 3 runs in the 8th to give the Phillies game 1 of the doubleheader. The Padres offense had a chance late with two on in the 9th but failed to make anything of it.
In the second half of the doubleheader, the Padres would have a similar result. Fernando Tatis Jr. scored an early run in the 1st to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. The Phillies Bryce Harper got the scoring for them with a homerun that ended the longest homerun drought of his career. Trent Grisham would continue off his game earlier today with a single to put the Friars up 2-1 going into the bottom half of the 5th. The Padres starter, Ryan Weathers, would give up 3 earned runs in the bottom half of the 5th ending his short-lived night. The Phillies after this point would not look back scoring a whopping 5 runs within the next 2 innings after another Padres bullpen implosion. The Padres late would try and make a push offensively but it wouldn’t be enough to overcome the 9-2 deficit. The game ended 9-4 with the Padres coming out on the losing end.
Here are three takeaways from today:
The Bullpen’s Woes Continue
After what has been a very disappointing season for the Padres bullpen the team hoped they could turn it around after the all-star break. Today was an example of how they have been underperforming all season long. In game 1 they were given a chance to maintain a lead that was given to them by starter Blake Snell. After not being able to keep a lead they were given a 2-run deficit and managed to worsen the situation. This is a glaring issue for a team that might be forced to be sellers at the deadline partially due to this issue.
Great day at the plate
This hasn’t been the dream season that this offense had hoped to have. Today in both games the offense provided enough to get the win in both games. They were doing it with both the long ball and scoring runners in scoring position. The bats gave enough to get a win today and should not be blamed for the losses. It was an unfortunate outcome given the day that was had at the plate including Manny reaching the 300 homerun club.
Must Win
Manny Machado called tomorrow’s game a “must-win” for a team that needs to find out if they should be buyers or sellers at the deadline. The Padres are equipped with the tools to be a winning baseball team. They have yet to put all of those tools together at the right time this season. With the deadline creeping up they can’t afford to drop 3 out of 4 to a team that is also deep in this wild card race. The team’s upcoming games do not get any easier with the next 7 games being on the road. They have to get their act together fast if they want any chance of competing in October.
The Padres and Phillies close out their series tomorrow morning at 10:35 a.m.
