ST. PETERSBURG -- Tropicana Field had been a place of great memories for Edwin Jackson, including an American League title while with the Rays in 2008, and throwing a no-hitter as a member of the D-backs in 2010.
Tuesday's 15-1 Padres loss to the Rays was a day he'd like to forget.
Jackson gave up eight runs over just four innings of work on nine hits, three walks and a hit batter.
"Pretty much everything I threw, they hit at us," Jackson said. "I take full responsibility. I pretty much single-handedly [took] the soul out of the team."
The first inning started innocently enough outside of plunking Nick Franklin as Jackson was eventually able to escape with a scoreless frame. But the Rays erupted for three runs in the second and four more in the third to take a commanding 7-0 lead.
The early runs created a snowball effect according to Padres manager Andy Green
"He's in a situation where you probably have the guy up that you want and you leave a cutter and clears the bases and that's probably the at-bat of the game right there," Green said of a three-run double by Luke Maile that opened the scoring. "If he's able to execute, get a double-play ball, he might settle in."
The exclamation point on the night came when Brad Miller crushed a no-doubt home run over the center-field fence that traveled 446 feet, according to Statcast™.
Carlos Villanueva came in to relieve Jackson in the fifth and the San Diego bullpen as a whole surrendered seven runs thereafter.
"You don't go out and don't give the team a chance, by only going four innings and the bullpen comes in early," Jackson said. "I wish I could have everybody's runs and take them to myself. As a starter, I feel like it's my job to keep the team in [it] and I feel like I didn't do that tonight."
Entering Tuesday's game, Jackson had pitched relatively well with San Diego after signing a Minor League deal with the team on June 20 after being released by Miami. Most recently, he threw seven scoreless innings against Pittsburgh in an Aug. 10 win that also saw him strike out seven.