The San Diego Padres had a disappointing series against the Detroit Tigers.
The Tigers came into the series with a record of 38-58. The team has been one of the worst teams in the American League this season. Because of this, Padres fans would have hoped to see their playoff-contending team easily take care of the Tigers in this three-game series. Unfortunately, that did not happen. The Padres only won one out of the three games played. It seemed as if the Padres were one of the worst teams in the MLB, rather than the Tigers.
Starting pitcher Sean Manaea started the first game for the Padres in this series. He struggled mightily, only pitching in three ⅓ innings and giving up nine runs. Only four of those runs were earned. The other five runs were scored because of a fielding error by first baseman Eric Hosmer. This was Hosmer’s fifth error of the season. Hosmer has four career Gold Glove awards, but he has not earned one since 2017 when he was with the Kansas City Royals. This error will not help him win another Gold Glove this season.
The Padres were able to score four runs in the first five innings, including three runs in the fifth inning.
Unfortunately, these runs did not mean much for the Padres, as the game was already out of hand early on. The game was 12-4 after the sixth inning, with the Tigers having the lead. The score remained the same throughout the rest of the game. The Padres ended up losing this brutal game.
The next game of the series was a close one. The game had to go into extra innings to decide a winner. The Padres started off the scoring in this one, scoring three runs in the top of the third inning. Designated hitter Luke Voit hit a double off the top of the wall, just a few inches away from being a home run. Two runs were scored as a result of the Voit double. After a Hosmer walk, Catcher Jorge Alfaro came up to bat and hit a ground-rule double. This allowed Voit to score and bring the lead to 3-0.
Starting pitcher Mike Clevinger started this game for the Padres, and he pitched well.
He went seven innings and only gave up two runs on six hits. Those two runs came in the seventh inning, as he was pitching a shutout for the first six innings. Relief pitcher Luis Garcia pitched in the eighth inning in relief of Clevinger. He was able to get the hold despite giving up two hits. Unfortunately, closing pitcher Taylor Rogers came in and pitched in the ninth inning, and it did not go well.
Rogers gave up two hits and a walk, which resulted in a run to tie the game 3-3. This was a blown save for Rogers, and it robbed Clevinger of a win on his season record. Luckily, in the top of the tenth inning, both Voit and Alfaro produced once again. The Padres scored three runs in the tenth inning, and then held the Tigers to one run in the bottom of the inning. The Padres won this game 6-4.
The final game of the series was another close one, but it was an extremely disappointing end to this one. Yu Darvish started the game and pitched seven innings, giving up only two runs. He also had 11 strikeouts. Unfortunately, Taylor Rogers blew his seventh save of the season, which leads the MLB. He gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth to give the Tigers a walk-off win, 4-3.
The Padres will face the Minnesota Twins at home in their upcoming series.
