Two pickoffs stop Padres in their tracks

SAN DIEGO – The Padres were on the verge of turning an early five-run deficit into one of their most impressive comeback wins of the season on Tuesday night. They scored four times in the middle innings, cutting the deficit to one. Their bullpen was in the process of pitching seven scoreless frames.

In the bottom of the eighth, San Diego put men on the corners with two outs, 90 feet from tying the game.

And then Royals reliever Taylor Clarke caught Rougned Odor leaning at first base. Odor promptly found himself in a pickle. He tried to make it last long enough so that Xander Bogaerts could scamper home from third base. But the right moment never emerged for Bogaerts.

• Game Story: Padres' comeback bid falls one run short ▶️

Odor was tagged out. The Padres’ best chance to tie the game was gone. Shortly thereafter, they had a 5-4 loss against the Royals at Petco Park, their eighth defeat in their last 10 games.

“It’s just a little bit the way we’ve been playing,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s just not in sync all the way around. You don’t expect baserunning to cost you. We’ve been pretty good, pretty efficient on some stolen bases and caught stealings. Unfortunately it ended the way it did today.”

The Padres found themselves in trouble early, after right-hander Seth Lugo allowed five runs in the second. On the last play of that second inning, as Lugo broke off the mound to cover first base, he felt something in his calf. He would later be diagnosed with a minor strain and is expected to miss his next start.

The San Diego bullpen picked up the slack, working seven scoreless frames in relief of Lugo, including three from Drew Carlton. The newly promoted right-hander hadn’t pitched more than two innings at Triple-A all season.

Carlton gave the Padres a chance, and some shoddy Kansas City defense let them back in the game. Jake Cronenworth hit an RBI triple in the fifth. Matt Carpenter hit an RBI double in the sixth. The Padres cut the deficit to one, as Petco Park came to life.

Then, they ran themselves out of each of the next two innings.

In the seventh, Adam Engel was caught running on Aroldis Chapman’s first move. After Chapman’s pickoff, Engel was tagged out sliding into second. Afterward, Melvin was mostly fine with that decision -- a risk worth taking after Chapman had already thrown over once, the manager said.

The Odor play an inning later? Not so much.

Clarke owns perhaps the Royals’ best pickoff move. As such, Odor made it a point to stay near the bag. But the very moment he began his hop to get a secondary lead, Clarke made a snap throw to first, and Odor was toast.

“I don't want to get out right there in that situation,” said Odor, who had reached on a lined two-out single. “But it's part of this game. It's tough. I should've stayed closer to not get out. But he had a really quick move, and he got me when I was going to do another step. So that's why I didn't even have time to slide back. I was trying to do another step, and that was when he picked.”

Making matters worse, Odor’s baserunning gaffe meant that Fernando Tatis Jr. was no longer guaranteed a plate appearance in the ninth. Instead, the bottom of the lineup went down 1-2-3, with Tatis left on deck.

As it was, Tatis had himself quite a night, even if he didn’t get a chance to win it. He delivered a brilliant throw from right field to third base to nail Vinnie Pasquantino in the top of the seventh inning. He also showed off his elite wheels, reaching 30.5 feet per second running to first base on an infield single in the first inning. He went first to home in 10.06 seconds on Cronenworth’s triple.

In the meantime, the Padres’ bullpen held the Royals in check after Lugo was roughed up. Luis García, Steven Wilson, Nick Martinez and Josh Hader all followed Carlton’s lead with scoreless ball.

Yes, after Carlton, the Padres went to their biggest relief weapons. That’s partly because they’ll have an off-day Thursday to reset. But it’s also an indication that Melvin felt this game was eminently winnable.

“We got a lot of positives today,” Melvin said. “We scored a couple runs in the middle innings after we were down. … The bullpen did a great job. Unfortunate that [baserunning] ended up costing us a game.”