The San Diego Padres only lost by two runs in a 16-run slugfest against the Chicago Cubs, but the game wasn't close until the last two innings.
The San Diego Padres are scuffling hard recently and are trying to avoid being swept by the Chicago Cubs, which lead the way in the National League wild card standings, after dropping the first two games of the three-game series.
The Padres lost 9-7 on Tuesday night, and although the score says this one was close, it really wasn’t for most of the game. Second baseman Fernando Tatis Jr. started the scoring with a towering leadoff home run that left Wrigley Field and went onto Waveland Ave.
It was pretty much all Cubs until the eighth inning after that, as a costly Tatis error that would have ended the inning on a double play chance turned into an RBI single for catcher Carson Kelly in the bottom half of the first. That was followed by a massive solo blast from shortstop Dansby Swanson and a three-run jack for third baseman Alex Bregman in the second inning.
Third baseman Manny Machado kept his power surge going with a two-run homer in the third inning, but Chicago’s power surge continued as well. Chicago hit three more home runs, as Michael Busch and Swanson homered in the fifth before Pete Crow-Armstrong hit one in the sixth.
A three-run shot from pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets and Tatis’ second of the game in the eighth made it a game at the end, but San Diego’s fortunes halted there.
Padres lefty JP Sears was rocked for six earned runs in 4.2 innings, while Cubs southpaw Matthew Boyd allowed three runs over five innings.
The series finale will consist of a pitching matchup between a pair of veteran right-handers: San Diego’s Walker Buehler and Chicago’s Colin Rea.
Buehler has arguably been the most reliable pitcher in the Padres’ starting rotation and the two-time World Series champion could be the stopper the team needs desperately. Buehler is 5-3 with a 3.81 ERA, 1.31 WHIP and 70 strikeouts to 26 walks through 16 starts (78 innings).
He didn’t have the best start to the season, but he hasn’t allowed more than three runs over his last nine starts and has allowed just one run in each of his last five outings. Buehler will face the following Cubs lineup:
1. Crow-Armstrong (CF)
2. Bregman (3B)
3. Busch (1B)
4. Seiya Suzuki (RF)
5. Ian Happ (LF)
6. Nico Hoerner (2B)
7. Michael Conforto (DH)
8. Miguel Amaya (C)
9. Swanson (SS)
Rea has been one of the worst qualified pitchers in terms of ERA, and he is 5-5 with a 4.80 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 63 strikeouts to 31 walks through 17 games (13 starts, 84.1 innings).
He has been great his last two starts, allowing just one total run against the Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays over 10.1 innings of work. Rea will face the following Padres lineup:
1. Tatis (RF)
2. Sheets (LF)
3. Machado (DH)
4. Ty France (1B)
5. Jackson Merrill (CF)
6. Xander Bogaerts (SS)
7. Jake Cronenworth (2B)
8. Rodolfo Duran (C)
9. Sung-Mun Song (3B)
First pitch is at 11:20 a.m. PDT on MLB.TV and regional sports networks.
