LOS ANGELES -- The Padres lost by 20 runs on Wednesday at Wrigley Field. And somehow, a day later, things got worse.
San Diego blew an early six-run lead en route to a troubling 12-7 loss to the Dodgers on Thursday night. Here’s some instant reaction from Dodger Stadium, as the Padres dropped their sixth straight:
It’s getting late early
The Padres and Dodgers met in mid-May and played on three straight nights with first place in the division on the line. Since then, nearly everything has gone wrong. Any dreams of an NL West title are long gone by now. Los Angeles’ lead grew to 13 games on Thursday night.
But the Padres are suddenly in jeopardy of losing their grip on the playoff race entirely. Thursday’s loss dropped them to .500 for the first time since they were 6-6. They’re three games back of the final Wild Card spot.
And with a beleaguered pitching staff -- which saw Jason Adam land on the injured list before Thursday’s game -- the Padres still need to complete this stretch of 17 games in 17 days before the All-Star break. They’ve got 10 more to go, including three more this weekend at Dodger Stadium.
The Padres need to turn things around -- and soon. Otherwise, they could find themselves well outside the playoff picture by the end of the month. (And who knows what that might mean for their Trade Deadline strategy?)
On the pitching front, this is entirely unsustainable
Even if the Padres weren’t playing 17 games in 17 days, the nightly strain that they’re putting on their bullpen is too burdensome. The Padres haven’t had a pitcher complete six innings through any of the first seven games of this stretch. On the season, they entered play Thursday with the fourth fewest innings from their starting pitchers.
That’s clearly taking its toll. The Padres’ bullpen has been one of the best in baseball this year. But it’s been hit hard by injuries lately. It’s a pitching group that is practically begging its starting pitchers for some sort of reprieve.
And the starters are not obliging.
Staked to an early 6-0 lead on Thursday night, Randy Vásquez lasted just three innings. He surrendered four runs. Across his last eight starts, Vásquez has a 7.75 ERA.
It hasn’t been much better elsewhere in the rotation. The bullpen seems to be unraveling as a result. Yuki Matsui and Wandy Peralta, who have been reliable middle-innings arms for the Padres all season, were hit hard on Thursday night.
Cronenworth a bright spot
Jake Cronenworth already looks like a different hitter. He struggled to start the season, then things got much, much worse when he was hit by a pitch in the chin in mid-April. He went just 4-for-his-next-31. Cronenworth didn’t realize it at the time, but he was dealing with the effects of a concussion.
After two months on the concussion IL, Cronenworth was activated Monday. And he’s looked more like the hitter the Padres have come to rely on over the past five seasons. He had three hits on Wednesday, then launched a three-run homer off Roki Sasaki in the top of the second inning on Thursday night.
After Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill had already gone deep, it gave the Padres a 6-0 lead.
Obviously, that lead was short-lived. The Dodgers had overturned it by the bottom of the fourth inning, getting to Vásquez and Wandy Peralta.
Nonetheless, it was still an encouraging sign for Cronenworth, who needs to be a factor in this offense if the Padres are going to turn things around.