The San Diego Padres lost the series opener against one of its biggest rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 3-2 Monday night.
The San Diego Padres have lost three of four games in May after dropping the series opener 3-2 to the San Francisco Giants Monday night.
The Padres started off on the right foot and got a solo home run from center fielder Jackson Merrill, who has struggled to begin the season. It was encouraging to see him hit a mammoth 436-foot shot to center and he picked up a single in his next at-bat to finish the night 2-for-4.
Merrill collected two of only three Padres hits in the contest, with the other coming from left fielder Ramon Laureano – a 447-foot bomb to center in the ninth. Giants right-hander Trevor McDonald was brilliant in his first start of the season, tossing seven one-run innings on two hits with eight strikeouts.
Padres righty Randy Vasquez pitched well, but took his first loss of the year after throwing 5.2 innings and allowing three runs on five hits and two walks with just two punchouts. Two of San Francisco’s runs came in response to Merrill’s homer in the first, with third baseman Casey Schmitt hitting a 396-foot solo homer to left and first baseman Rafael Devers singling former Padre Luis Arraez home. Devers added another run on a sacrifice fly to right field in the sixth, the dagger.
The Giants improved to fourth place in the National League West after its win, leapfrogging the Colorado Rockies, while the Padres lost a game on the Los Angeles Dodgers. San Diego will rely on veteran right-hander Walker Buehler to outmatch Giants ace righty Logan Webb in the middle game of this three-game series.
Buehler is coming off a 4.2 inning-performance against the red-hot Chicago Cubs in which he allowed two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out four. He is 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA and 1.56 WHIP with 24 strikeouts in six starts (25 innings), and the Padres need more from the two-time All-Star and World Series champion.
Webb hasn’t had his best stuff to begin the year and was shelled on Opening Night against the New York Yankees, an outing that ballooned his ERA. However, he’s been pretty sharp in his last few appearances and carries a 2-3 record, 4.30 ERA and 1.36 WHIP with 38 strikeouts in seven starts (44 innings). Webb last worked against the Philadelphia Phillies and threw seven one-run innings on seven hits and two walks while fanning six to earn a no-decision.
First pitch is at 6:45 p.m. PDT on MLB.TV and regional sports networks.