The San Diego Union-Tribune
Padres reliever Tim Hill walks to the dugout after being pulled in the eighth inning of Saturday’s first game in a doubleheader against the Phillies.
An oppressively hot and humid afternoon melted away in the latter innings, as too many games have for the Padres since late last month.
A 6-4 loss to the Phillies in the opener of Saturday’s split doubleheader wasn’t entirely the fault of the bullpen, but it ended on the relievers’ watch.
The bullpen had been slightly better recently, but Sunday was the seventh time in the Padres ‘ past 12 losses that the decision went to a Padres reliever.
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In winning six of their seven games entering Saturday, the Padres had scored enough, their starting pitchers had covered enough innings and closer Josh Hader had been busy and good enough to overcome the consistent leaking by many relievers.
But after being among the best bullpens in the major leagues the first 2½ months of the season, the group has faltered badly of late.
“We’ve talked about timing this year a bunch,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said between games. “Our timing isn’t great right now. A lot of good things happened and a lot of bad things happened.”
This time, the Padres could not make Trent Grisham’s three-run homer in the second inning and Manny Machado’s homer in the eighth inning be enough.
And after playing for more than three hours in the sticky heat that at its most pleasant registered 90 degrees, the day is only half over.
Citizens Bank Park was cleared after Craig Kimbrel closed out the game, and a nightcap in the split doubleheader is scheduled to commence at 4:05 p.m. PT.
The Padres, who failed for the fifth time to win what would have been a season-high fourth consecutive game, led 3-0 and 4-3. They held the first lead for multiple innings and the latter for a half-inning.
The Phillies got to 3-2 in the sixth inning against Steven Wilson and tied the game on the first pitch Nick Martinez made in the seventh.
Making his first appearance since June 27, Wilson allowed two runs on a leadoff single, a one-out walk and a two-out double by Brandon Marsh that appeared to be misjudged and sailed over left fielder Juan Soto’s outstretched glove.
Wilson ended the inning by getting a groundout, and Nick Martinez came in at the start of the eighth.
As happened twice in three appearances at the start of July, Martinez’s first offering to his first batter was hit over some portion of the outfield wall. This one was a 440-foot home run to center field by Kyle Schwarber.
After Machado 300th career home run and seventh in a span of 40 at-bats, the bottom of the eighth saw Tim Hill yield multiple runs for the fourth time in his past eight appearances.
Hill appeared to have gotten the first out of the eighth inning when Bryson Stott hit a routine grounder that went off Rougned Odor’s glove. Hill struck out the next batter before Marsh moved Stott to third with a single to right field before successive RBI singles by pinch-hitter Bryce Harper, Schwarber and Trea Turner tied the game, gave the Phillies the lead and extended their lead in short order.
Another meltdown — the 15th consecutive game in which the bullpen allowed at least one run and the 13th time in that span it allowed multiple runs — came after Blake Snell worked five harmless but occasionally laborious innings.
Snell said the conditions did not contribute to his early departure. Instead, he said he was sore and tired going into the game and figured he had about five innings and/or 75 pitches in him. Melvin said Snell was “cooked” after a 26-pitch fifth inning in which Snell left the bases loaded.
“I wouldn’t say I was cooked,” Snell said. “... I was playing it smart by not trying to overdo it.”
Snell extended his scoreless streak to 21 innings, a career high and the longest scoreless stretch by a Padres pitcher since Jon Garland and Mat Latos both put together 21-inning streaks in 2010.
The Padres had received some help from a bad decision and a bad attempt at a catch in the second inning.
After Gary Sánchez drew a two-out walk, Matthew Batten chopped a slow grounder up the middle that wasn’t slow enough that he would not have been out had Turner, the Phillies shortstop, chose to throw to first base. Instead, with Sanchez going to second base without a slide, Turner seemed to surprise second baseman Edmundo Sosa with an underhand toss that clanged off Sosa’s glove. That put runners at first and second, and Trent Grisham made the mistake costly by driving a ball just over the tall wall in right field for a three-run homer.
Phillies starter Ranger Suarez retired seven straight batters after the home run and escaped unscathed despite a lead-off walk and two one-out singles in the fifth inning, because Batten was thrown out attempting to steal second base before the successive singles by Ha-Seong Kim and Fernando Tatis Jr. and Soto grounded out after the singles.
Suarez made it through six innings without allowing another run.
After Machado’s leadoff homer off Matt Strahm, who pitched for the Padres from 2018 through ‘21, Xander Bogaerts doubled. Jake Cronenworth popped out in foul territory attempting to bunt, but Bogaerts stole third. That chance ended on strikeouts by Sánchez and Odor.
Kimbrel ended the game by getting Machado on a pop fly to shallow right field after Grisham and Soto had reached base on walks.
Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune
