The San Diego Padres had a chance to draw even with the Braves today, but the Braves played long ball instead.
The San Diego Padres needed a win to even their four-game series against the Atlanta Braves at 2-2, but they lost a 6-5 battle as the Braves managed to out-homer the Padres to put this one away.
The Padres had a shot in this one early despite the pitching mismatch. Braves starter Chris Sale walked Fernando Tatis Jr. with the bases loaded to get Kansas City off to a 1-0 lead to start the second inning, and Luis Regifo singled in two more to extend the lead to 3-0.
Kyle Hart did his job as the opener with a scoreless first inning, but bulk reliever Griffin Canning is something a time bomb on the mound these days, and it didn’t take Atlanta long to explode. Michael Harris II got one run back for the Braves with a solo homer in the second, and Ozzie Albies continued the long ball game with a solo shot in the fourth. The big blow, however, was a three-run bomb from Dominic Smith to make it 5-3, which put the Padres behind once again.
Canning somehow managed to increase his ERA to 6.97 in his brief outing, as he gave up five runs, four earned, on five hits, with the home runs being his Achilles heel in this one.
The Braves extended their lead to 6-3 on a solo homer by Drake Baldwin in the seventh off reliever Matt Waldron, but Ty France made it a game with a two-run homer in the eighth off Atlanta reliever Tyler Kinley.
The score stayed that way until the ninth, when the Braves brought in closer Raisel Iglesias, who had an adventure save to lock down Atlanta’s 7-6 win over the Padres last night. The Padres did get a pair of baserunners on back-to-back singles by Jake Cronenworth and Tatis, but Iglesias was abl to strikeout Rengifo to notch his 21st save of the season.
The loss brought the Padres’ record on their disappointing road trip to 2-5, and they dropped to three games under .500 at 50-53. Their next stop will be against the Miami Marlins tomorrow night, with the Marlins being one of the teams just ahead of San Diego in the wild card race.
The Padres will open the series with German Marquez against an unnamed Miami starter, and this is the last chance to salvage the trip. They can still put a positive spin on it with a series win or a sweep, but right now that feels like a big ask from a Padres squad that looks like anything but a playoff contender.
