Fernando Tatis Jr. sent Walker Buehler to the mound with a 455-foot leadoff homer, but the Padres could not extend their season-best run Tuesday night. Colorado turned a tight game into a 9-3 decision at Coors Field, ending San Diego’s eight-game winning streak.
Padres’ streak ends in Denver after 9-3 loss
San Diego had already matched the eight-game surge it put together in April. It was the first time in franchise history the Padres had posted two winning streaks of at least eight games in one season. Nine straight, however, remained out of reach.
The loss arrived on a night when the standings offered a chance to make a move. Chicago and Philadelphia both lost, meaning the Padres could have pulled level with each club in the loss column. Instead, San Diego remained 1 1/2 games behind the Cubs and one game back of the Phillies. The Padres do not own the tiebreaker against either team, so they would need to pass both clubs to secure Wild Card Series games at home.
The National League’s final Wild Card race shifted twice around the Padres’ loss. Corbin Carroll’s two-run, walk-off homer against Miami on Monday prevented San Diego from opening a 3 1/2-game lead over Arizona. The following night, Arizona was close to trimming the gap to 1 1/2 games before former Padres prospect Esteury Ruiz lined a three-run double in the 11th inning to lift Miami. That result left San Diego’s advantage over the Diamondbacks at 2 1/2 games.
Manager Craig Stammen did not hide the disappointment, but he also pointed to the bigger picture. “A loss is disappointing, especially when the expectation is to win every night,” Stammen said. “But these players have been outstanding for the past two weeks and have emptied the tank.”
Tatis had little appetite for celebrating the streak after the final out. “Yesterday felt good,” he said. “Tonight doesn’t. We have to tighten things up and start building again tomorrow.”
The result
Tatis’ blast gave the Padres an early jolt, and Austin Hays put them ahead 3-2 when he opened the fifth by homering off Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland. Freeland was removed after that swing.
But San Diego’s recent bullpen workload caught up with the club. The Padres had spent four consecutive days protecting large leads with their highest-leverage relievers, and Buehler’s abbreviated outing left limited options for the middle innings. He threw 92 pitches while recording 14 outs.
Wandy Peralta got through trouble in the fifth but found more in the sixth, when four of the first five Rockies hitters reached. Colorado moved in front, and Randy Vásquez entered with the game still there to be saved.
Vásquez nearly escaped a critical spot against Cole Carrigg. The two battled for 13 pitches, with Carrigg fouling off 10 before pulling a belt-high fastball into the seats in right field. It was Carrigg’s second homer of the night and gave Colorado a four-run cushion it did not surrender.
“As the game moved along, it just was not our night,” Stammen said. “Their lineup kept producing and got into our bullpen.”
There was one modest benefit to the lopsided finish: San Diego’s heavily used late-inning relief corps received a night away from the hardest assignments.
The rotation next
Buehler’s 4 2/3 innings forced the Padres to cover more ground than planned, but the bigger question moving forward remains how San Diego will stack its lineup behind Tatis.
Hays received the No. 2 spot against Freeland because of his history against the Rockies left-hander and his broader success against southpaws. His fifth-inning homer reinforced the appeal of placing a matchup hitter between Tatis and the club’s middle-order core of Manny Machado, Ty France and Jackson Merrill.
The approach also creates a choice for opposing managers. If a left-handed starter stays in to face Hays, the Padres like that matchup. If a club goes to a right-handed reliever early, Dustin Harris can be available off the bench; Harris has handled right-handed pitching well.
The conventional alternative would be to simply arrange Tatis, Machado, France and Merrill as the first four hitters, maximizing their trips to the plate. Still, San Diego has found success with Tatis leading off and a matchup-based bat separating him from the heart of the order.
That flexibility could grow in the coming weeks. Miguel Andujar played his sixth rehabilitation game with Triple-A El Paso on Tuesday and may not be far from returning, while Gavin Sheets could also rejoin the club from the injured list.
SEO Title: Padres’ eight-game winning streak ends with 9-3 loss to Rockies
SEO Description: Fernando Tatis Jr. homered 455 feet and Austin Hays went deep, but the Padres lost 9-3 in Colorado as their eight-game streak ended and the Wild Card race tightened.
