ARLINGTON -- Even after an undistinguished road trip, the Padres still consider themselves serious postseason contenders, and they have every right to believe it with a winning record and more than half the season left to play.
This upcoming week would be an ideal time to prove it.
The Padres departed Globe Life Field on Sunday having lost four of the past six games, including Sunday’s 4-3 defeat to the Rangers. Upon returning to a likely-packed Petco Park for two big three-game series against the Braves and Dodgers, the Padres will need to put their 4-5 road trip behind them quickly.
The Braves and Dodgers are MLB’s top two teams in wins and winning percentage.
“It's a fun challenge,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “We get to see if we're good enough to hang with them.”
The just-completed 10-day whirlwind tour through Baltimore, St. Louis and Texas offered conflicting evidence about the Padres’ capabilities.
Their last three losses on the trip had a combined margin of only four runs. Their stalwart late-inning relievers stayed sharp. And perhaps most encouraging, San Diego got meaningful offensive production from Jackson Merrill, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, who all got off to subpar starts this season but have begun to thrive recently. Each of them had a timely hit in Sunday’s loss.
Merrill batted .314 (11-for-35) over the past eight games with six RBIs. Tatis hit .333 (10-for-30) over the same stretch, with a pinch-hit single Sunday. Machado has driven in six runs in his past four games, five of which came in a win Saturday.
“A few of our big boys started getting some hits in big spots,” Stammen said. “It just shows that these guys compete, they come back. We get down, we always come back. It's just kind of the M.O. of our team and identity. That's a great identity to have that's going to last a full season.”
When it comes to the pitching rotation, the Padres haven’t established their identity yet -- or at least, not one they want to be identified with. Sunday was no exception, as Lucas Giolito allowed four earned runs on seven hits and two walks in four innings after opener Wandy Peralta tossed a scoreless first frame. Giolito surrendered a demoralizing three-run homer to Wyatt Langford in the third, when the Rangers sent all nine batters to the plate.
Signed on a one-year deal four weeks into the season, Giolito came to San Diego to provide depth to a rotation that is without injured starters Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta. But in seven games, Giolito has amassed a 5.16 ERA in 29 2/3 innings, with a 1.85 WHIP.
Stammen said after Sunday’s game that Giolito will still make his next turn in the rotation -- albeit possibly after an opener again -- and the 31-year-old right-hander knows he needs to improve.
“I’m the reason the team lost and we lost the series. ... As a big-league pitcher, you have to be able to come out the gate, throwing your pitches for strikes, and I'm just not doing that,” Giolito said. “I’m just not throwing the ball well.
“The offense is fighting. I give up three runs, we answer right back, and then I give up another one. It’s pretty [bad]. I’ve got to be better than that.”
Among Padres starters, Giolito isn’t alone in feeling that way. San Diego starters are 20-25, with a 4.63 ERA (tied for third-highest in the National League). They have pitched 358 innings combined, fourth-fewest in the NL.
“We believe that our starting pitching will get better,” Stammen said. “We're working with them every day.”