The Padres left Thursday with another one-run loss, a bullpen move, and more deadline chatter swirling around the roster.
San Diego fell 6-5 to the Braves and dropped to 50-53 on the season. Chris Sale made life miserable for the Padres, punching out 11 over six innings. Griffin Canning took the ball behind an opener and didn’t give San Diego much of a chance to settle in, allowing four earned runs in 2.2 innings while striking out four.
The Padres did enough early to keep themselves in it. Fernando Tatis Jr. worked a bases-loaded walk in the second inning, and Luis Rengifo followed three pitches later with a two-run single. Rengifo has been scorching since arriving in San Diego, hitting .407 in his first six games as a Padre.
Still, the game slipped away before the late push. San Diego entered the eighth down 6-3, then Ty France brought the crowd back into it with a two-run homer, his 16th of the year. In the ninth, Jake Cronenworth and Tatis opened the inning with back-to-back two-out singles, but Rengifo went down on three pitches to end it and seal the series.
Right after the final out, the Padres dealt reliever Ron Marinaccio to the Pirates. Marinaccio had a 4.79 ERA in 47 innings before being designated for assignment and then flipped for international signing bonus considerations.
The deadline noise around San Diego isn’t stopping there. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan reported that closer Mason Miller has surprisingly strong odds to be moved before Aug. 3.
"Less than a year after giving up one of the top prospects in baseball in shortstop Leo De Vries to acquire Miller, the Padres are considering moving him," they wrote. "Miller is a true game changer, the king of the ninth, and with even the best teams always in need of another lockdown reliever, Miller's status will run parallel with the Padres'.
If they don't turn things around soon, he could be an ex-Padre by Aug. 3."
There’s also growing pressure on Griffin Canning after Thursday’s outing, especially with the Padres continuing to lose tight games. The margin is thin, and the rotation can’t afford many more starts like that if San Diego wants to keep pushing.
The Padres’ upcoming probable starters for Miami are RHP Germán Márquez on Friday, LHP JP Sears on Saturday, and RHP Walker Buehler on Sunday.
In Other News...
Padres Bullpen Just Took Another Brutal Jason Adam Setback
Jason Adams absence is starting to linger in a way the Padres would rather not see from one of their most trusted bullpen arms. The right-hander has been out with a shoulder strain, and what had looked like a possible mid-August return now feels much less certain. Before the injury, Adam had been a steady late-game option for San Diego, working to a 2.51 ERA across 36 appearances and giving the club a level of reliability it has leaned on all season.
For a bullpen that has already had to absorb some wear, the timing makes the setback sting a little more. Jeremiah Estrada is expected back soon after getting through a Triple-A outing during his recovery from a knee injury, which at least offers a potential reinforcement in the near term. Even so, Adams situation leaves the Padres waiting on one of the arms they count on most, and the next step in his recovery still matters as much as anything else in the relief mix. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Suddenly Linked To One Tigers Star Fans Feared Losing
The Padres are expected to spend the run-up to the August 3 trade deadline looking for help in the rotation, and that search has now produced a name that would instantly change the conversation. Tarik Skubal, the Tigers left-hander who has become one of the most coveted arms in the sport, has been linked as a possible target if Detroit decides to listen, giving San Diego a high-end option in a market where starting pitching always comes at a premium.
Detroits place in the playoff race is what makes the situation so tricky, because the Tigers are not operating like a club eager to sell. Even so, Skubals looming free agency keeps the door from shutting completely, and for the Padres the appeal is obvious: a chance to chase a frontline starter with impact now, even if the price would be steep and the fit far from simple. [Read more 🡒]