PHOENIX -- The Padres wrapped up an eventful Trade Deadline day with a 5-1 series-opening loss to the D-backs on Monday night.
Here’s some reaction from Chase Field:
A poor start to a crucial series
This week’s series between these two NL West rivals was always going to carry playoff implications. But the Padres’ overarching Deadline philosophy seems to make it even more critical.
That’s because of the 2026-centric nature of their Deadline. In the past, general manager A.J. Preller has done his best to trade for players with multiple years of control. He didn’t this time. The Padres added two rental starters. They also hung onto Adrian Morejon, who is set to become a free agent this winter.
If those decisions are going to pay off, the Padres need to win now. But the Diamondbacks are standing in the way of their first objective: reaching the postseason. With Monday’s victory, Arizona currently sits two games ahead of San Diego for the final Wild Card spot in the NL.
That’s not to say this series will decide the Padres’ season. They’ll have 46 games left when it’s over. But that Deadline strategy will look a whole lot better if they win a few games this week. And it might look a whole lot worse if they don’t.
Offense falls flat against Pfaadt
The Padres bolstered their rotation in a major way, adding Casey Mize and Robbie Ray on Monday, but they did little to boost their offense.
Fair enough. There were only so many resources to trade from. And considering the state of the rotation, it was wise to spend those resources on pitching. The Padres’ offense has been mashing for nearly two months. It’s now imperative that they keep that up with the hitters they have.
As such, Monday’s showing was a discouraging one. D-backs righty Brandon Pfaadt has been on a roll lately. But the Padres couldn’t do much against him, scoring only one unearned run across his 6 2/3 innings.
“We have a tough time against his pitch mix,” said Padres manager Craig Stammen. “He’s been pitching us really well, keeping us off-balance, mixing things up. We just had a tough time with him tonight.”
King outdueled
With help on the way, the burden no longer falls so heavily on Michael King. He remains the only Padres starter to complete six innings in the last two months. Ideally, that’ll change quickly once Mize and Ray arrive.
“Texted both of them already,” King said. “I’m pumped for when they can get here. Both of them have had outstanding years. I’m very happy that Preller believed in this group to add to it.”
King couldn’t quite reach that six-inning mark on Monday night. He labored his way through five-plus innings and surrendered a three-run home run to Tim Tawa that ultimately proved decisive.
It wasn’t a poor start. But when the Padres moved King back a day in their rotation so he could face Arizona, they probably envisioned a bit more than this.
“Just very inefficient,” King said. “Too many walks, and then [Tawa] clipped me.”