Padres' quiet bats squander King's 7 scoreless vs. Pirates

SAN DIEGO -- Every loss counts the same. Some just sting a little more. For the Padres, Tuesday was one of those.

Mason Miller stunningly surrendered his first home run of the season -- a laser from Oneil Cruz to the right-field porch at Petco Park with two outs in the ninth inning. That homer proved decisive in a 1-0 Pirates victory.

Shortly thereafter, the Diamondbacks walked off the Cubs, narrowing San Diego’s lead in the National League Wild Card race to a single game. Making matters worse, the Padres have leaned so heavily on Miller and lights-out setup man Adrian Morejon the last two nights, they almost certainly won’t be available for Wednesday’s series finale.

“The good thing is that hasn’t happened very often this year,” said manager Craig Stammen. “Usually when we use them we come out on the good end of games. … Back at it tomorrow. We’ve got a really good bullpen. I know those guys will pick those two up.”

Here are some takeaways from Petco Park, where the Padres will look to avoid a sweep on Wednesday afternoon:

A rare blip for Miller

It’d been more than a year since Miller allowed a homer -- a two-run shot from Arizona’s Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in just Miller’s second outing with the Padres. He went 76 2/3 innings since then without allowing a long ball, which was the longest active streak in MLB.

And, sure, Miller threw 30 pitches on Monday night and was pitching his fourth game in five days. But he wasn’t about to use that as an excuse.

“I felt good enough to go today,” Miller said. “We had a lot of guys throw yesterday. That’s part of my value and part of my responsibility to this team -- to be available any time that I can. … I think it was just one dumb pitch, and that’s kind of the story.”

Miller has one of the best fastballs in the sport, routinely exceeding triple digits, and one of the best sliders in the sport -- a pitch that misses bats more than any other pitch in the Majors.​

That “dumb pitch” on Tuesday? An 0-1 changeup to Cruz. Of course, Miller wasn’t exclusively kicking himself for the pitch selection. But if he was going to throw that pitch, he said, he certainly couldn’t afford to leave it hanging on the inner half of the plate like that.

“He’s human,” Stammen said.

Easy to forget, given just how dominant Miller has been this season.

"Humans can be idiots sometimes,” Miller said when told of Stammen’s comment. “Tip your hat. Good swing. Crushed it obviously. But I just can't be throwing that pitch in that spot.”

King dominates

If it felt like Michael King was ahead of every hitter he faced on Tuesday night, well, that’s almost literally true.

King threw first pitch-strikes to 24 of the 26 hitters he faced. He was constantly in control of counts and used his electric stuff from there. King struck out seven, while allowing five hits and two walks.

The Pirates put two runners in scoring position in the first inning. King escaped that threat with a couple punchouts, and he wouldn’t allow another runner to reach second base the rest of the night.

“Right from the jump, I had it,” King said.

All season long, King has been excellent when the Padres have needed him. And they needed him Tuesday, after using six relievers in a 12-inning loss the night before. Again, King delivered.

The only problem? As usual with King, the Padres’ offense did little to support him. Paul Skenes matched him in what was an excellent pitchers’ duel. Not that King took any enjoyment from that.

“I’d rather win by a hundred,” he said.

Offense hits a rough patch

The Padres’ offense has been one of the hottest in baseball for the better part of two months. But it might finally be cooling off a bit.

San Diego has scored just three runs in the last 21 innings (including three scoreless extra innings that started with a runner on second base on Monday). ​

Stammen often cites the inconsistent nature of offense in general. Sure, the Padres have had a couple rough nights. But this is nowhere near what they endured early in the season. Nonetheless, they could use better at-bats from a few of their struggling hitters -- Jackson Merrill in particular.

“He’s probably been going outside the zone a little bit more, and I think teams have been matching up with him with some tough lefties here lately, too,” Stammen said. “I know he’s working very hard every day, and eventually he’s going to break out of it.”