The San Diego Padres had a chance to win their three-game set against Milwaukee, but Griffin Canning imploded early.
The San Diego Padres dropped the rubber game of their three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-1, as another disastrous start from Griffin Canning put them in an early hole that proved to be insurmountable.
The Padres came into this one buzzing after last night’s ninth inning three-run homer that got them a 3-1 win, but the buzz didn’t last long. The Brewers broke out on top in the first in their one against starter Griffin Canning, starting when Canning couldn’t locate the strike zone. He gave up four walks in a row with one out, and a single by Luis Rengifo drove in two more to put Milwaukee up 3-0.
The Brewers doubled their lead to 6-0 in the second as things continued to go sideways for Canning. David Hamilton opened the inning with a single, and Canning threw away a pickoff attempt that put Hamilton on third. Brice Turang doubled to bring home Hamilton, and Gary Sanchez doubled to bring Turang around. Andrew Vaughn singled to score the third run of the inning, and that was it for Canning as he was replaced by Rod Marinaccio with the game essentially over.
Kyle Harrison cruised through five shutout innings for Milwaukee as he scattered five hits and struck out seven, and three relievers finished up to complete the route. The Padres did get on the board with a token run in the ninth, as Sung-Mun Song drove in Nick Marinaccio on a force out to match a Brewers' run in the fourth to produce the final score of 7-1.
This was Canning’s second bad start out of the three he’s made to date for the Padres, and it raises questions once again about the back end of the team’s rotation. They lost the first game of this series due to a subpar effortby Matt Waldron as they set up Waldron with an opener, and the truth is that the Padres really have no idea what’s going to happen when Canning, Waldron and Walker Buehler take the mount.
Help is on the way in the form of free agent signee Lucas Giolito, but it remains to be seen how much he can give San Diego. He’ll definitely help, but Giolito probably isn’t the whole answer, and the Padres have to be looking toward the trade deadline and a possible rotation move or an offensive add by GM A.J. Preller. The Padres have played mostly excellent baseball so far this season, but they’re definitely punching above their weight now with the rotation as currently constituted and the inconsistent offense struggling to score runs.