SAN DIEGO -- Royals starter Eric Skoglund mimicked his previous outing on Friday night against the Padres: It was short-lived.
Skoglund lasted but 1 1/3 innings in his third Major League start as the Padres went on to win, 6-3.
He was fortunate to escape with a no-decision after giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks. He had a strikeout, but left with an ERA that rose by more than a run to 5.59.
"[My pitches] were in the middle, they were able to square some balls up and that was about it,'' Skoglund said. "I wasn't getting ahead and that's the bread and butter right there. If you don't get ahead, you are going to get hit."
On May 30, Skoglund turned in one of the finest debuts in Royals history. The southpaw blanked the Tigers over 6 1/3 innings, surrendering two hits. Since, in two starts, he's notched 10 outs.
Skoglund's second start produced just two innings, and a loss, when he faced the Indians and was charged with four runs. But that early exit was because of a nearly two-hour rain delay, after which Skoglund didn't resume pitching.
There was no threat of rain in San Diego, but that didn't prevent a black cloud from hovering over Skoglund.
"They were just on him,'' Royals manager Ned Yost said. "They were just having good swings on him. Mostly it was his pitch location.''

With Skoglund, 24, staying on the outside, the Padres were able to feel comfortable extending their arms.
"We didn't establish in enough early and they were kind of diving out on him and getting good pitches to hit,'' Yost said.
Skoglund, a third-round Draft pick in 2014, didn't get the loss on Friday but only because Salvador Perez's two-run homer in the fifth got him off the hook.
"I'm going to keep working, man,'' Skoglund said. "That's all I can do and help this team every day. All I can do is to get better.''
Of the 11 Padres Skoglund faced, nine of them reached base. Skoglund was the beneficiary of a first-inning double play after three of the first four Padres collected hits.
"Once I got the double play I thought I was going to get some momentum for the second inning,'' Skoglund said. "But it didn't happen like that.''
In the second Cory Spangenberg and Jhoulys Chacin were careless on the bases and were erased. Otherwise Skoglund would have sustained additional damage as he allowed a single, two doubles and two walks to start the inning before being removed.