PHILADELPHIA -- The Padres have dropped seven of eight, and four of those losses have come against the Phillies -- including Tuesday’s 3-2 defeat at Citizens Bank Park.
Here’s some instant reaction, after another night in which San Diego went hitless (0-for-7) with runners in scoring position:
Just how costly might these losses be?
It’s early June. There’s obviously plenty of time for things to change. Nonetheless, here’s some early playoff math for you:
The Braves, Brewers and Dodgers look strong atop their respective divisions. The NL Wild Card race beyond them is a crowded one. The Padres and Phillies both find themselves in that mix.
So yeah, this stretch could prove costly for San Diego. The Padres have dropped all four of their games against Philadelphia and are now staring down the prospect of facing Cristopher Sánchez and Zack Wheeler over the next two days.
“It’s important to get back on it tomorrow and give ourselves a chance to win a series,” Gavin Sheets said. “It’s time for us to come tomorrow and show up. This is how you go a long way -- you beat pitchers like [Sánchez].”
As of the final out Tuesday, only two games separated the top seven teams in the Wild Card race, with the Padres clinging to one of those playoff spots. They could seriously use a strong finish to this week’s series in Philadelphia.
An uneven night for Tatis
Fernando Tatis Jr. seems to be finding it at the plate. He hit his first homer on Saturday. He is hitting .464 across his past seven games. Tatis pounded out three more hits on Tuesday night and was hardly at fault for the Padres’ disappointing offensive showing.
But, man, that baserunning mistake in the eighth sure proved costly. With Tatis on first, Miguel Andujar bounced a grounder toward third base. Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm had no shot at getting Andujar.
So he pumped once to first. And that was enough to catch Tatis having strayed too far off second base. Bohm threw to second and caught Tatis in a rundown, and he was promptly tagged out.
“I’m just trying to be aggressive,” Tatis said. “Thought it was going to be a close play at first. Just trying to make a turn over there and make something happen. Obviously they saw me.”
Said manager Craig Stammen: “We’ve seen him do things like that and get away with it so many times that you don’t want to take that out of him. You don’t want to take that aggressiveness out of him.”
Clearly, the Padres don’t want to rein in Tatis on the basepaths. And he’s earned the benefit of the doubt by now. But in this instance … where was he going, exactly? Getting to third base in that situation, with two outs, was hardly worth any measure of risk. As it turned out, that was the Padres’ last and best chance to tie the game.
A nice bounce-back from Vásquez
Last week, the Phillies homered three times against Randy Vásquez and scored four early runs. After a strong start to the season, Vásquez had been struggling -- and last Tuesday’s outing seemed to be the culmination of those struggles.
But this looked like the early-season version of Vásquez, working around trouble and (mostly) limiting hard contact. Vásquez pitched five innings of two-run ball. He hung a sweeper that Bryce Harper demolished for a two-run homer in the fourth inning. But otherwise, he allowed little else.
“It was a good outing,” Vásquez said through interpreter Jorge Merlos. “It wasn’t an excellent outing.”
With a fresh Padres bullpen and Harper due up again in the sixth, Vásquez got an early hook after just 80 pitches. It was a sensible move, even if it backfired. Jeremiah Estrada walked Harper, then allowed a Brandon Marsh single, before Alec Bohm’s double play plated Harper with the go-ahead run.
Sheets keeps mashing
It is mostly an indictment on the seasons the Padres’ superstars are having to note that Gavin Sheets has been, by far, the team’s best hitter this season. But seriously -- where would this offense be without Sheets’ contributions?
He launched a two-run homer in the third inning on Tuesday night, giving the Padres a 2-0 lead. It was his 10th home run of the season, tying him with Manny Machado for the team lead. Sheets is the only qualifying Padre with an OPS above .700 -- and it’s .818.
This was one of Sheets’ most impressive swings of the season, too. Aaron Nola threw him a 1-2 curveball, just below the zone. Sheets went down and got it.
“He’s a good golfer,” quipped Stammen. “But he’s got a good baseball swing also. … He’s been a bright spot in our offense all season, and he continues to come up with big hits.”