The Padres left Sunday with another loss on the board, falling 4-2 to the Dodgers and slipping to 43-39. San Diego got a pair of shots in the arm from Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, but it wasn’t enough to catch Los Angeles after a three-run fifth inning turned the game.
Michael King took the ball for the Padres and worked 4.1 innings, striking out five while giving up four earned runs and four walks. The right-hander’s ERA moved to 3.55, and the loss was his seventh of the season.
Machado opened the scoring for San Diego in the fourth with a towering solo home run. Bogaerts later brought Jackson Merrill home in the sixth, trimming the deficit, but that was the final damage the Padres managed at the plate.
While the game itself ended in disappointment, there was also an update on Jake Cronenworth’s recovery from a concussion. Padres manager Craig Stammen said the club is still waiting to see when Cronenworth feels ready to get back into game action.
“I think he’s gonna give us a little bit of indication of, ‘Yeah, I feel ready, my timing is back,’” Stammen said. “It’s a little bit almost like spring training, where we’ve got to just more so - not like health-wise but just like baseball-wise - am I ready to play baseball? Am I ready to play every day when I get back?”
Another name making headlines around the series was Walker Buehler. The right-hander has looked much more like the version that once powered an All-Star and World Series-clinching run, posting a 1.71 ERA over his last five starts.
Buehler backed that up Friday by allowing one run and striking out five over 5.1 innings. Dodgers third baseman and former teammate Max Muncy said the difference has been easy to see.
“His command was really good tonight," Muncy said. “He was mixing his pitches - but he’s always done that.
Just the way it looks, he’s a couple years removed from losing his velocity. That happens when you have injuries.
I just think he’s learned how to navigate that.
“He’s a very smart pitcher. He always has been. I think it’s just took time for him to learn what his arsenal was and go from there.”
And with the trade deadline moving closer, the Padres are also being tied to an Orioles slugger. San Diego’s offense sits last in MLB in batting average and OPS, which is why the idea of adding a power bat before Aug. 3 has been framed as potentially season-changing for the club.
In Other News...
Padres Suddenly Have A Bigger Randy Vasquez Problem Than One Loss
The Padres did not just drop the second game of their series against the Dodgers, they watched a promising night spiral into a 15-3 loss when Randy Vasquez was hit hard in the sixth inning. What had been a manageable game quickly got away, and the right-hander ended up taking most of the damage as Los Angeles piled on and turned the matchup into a rout.
Vasquez pointed to his pitch location as the problem afterward, a frustrating answer for a pitcher trying to stabilize his place in the staff. He is still lined up to start the next game in the series, but after an outing like this, the scrutiny around every inning he works is going to get a lot sharper. [Read more 🡒]
Jake Cronenworth Just Made The Padres Infield Question More Urgent
Jake Cronenworths road back to the Padres started in encouraging fashion at Triple-A El Paso, where his rehab assignment opened with a home run in his first at-bat and a seven-inning stint at second base. It was the kind of first step San Diego wanted to see after clearing him medically, even if the club is clearly more interested in how he looks over a stretch of games than in one loud debut.
The bigger question is whether Cronenworth can use this assignment to show hes ready for everyday major league work again and leave behind the struggles that had already made his return a delicate call. San Diegos infield picture has been in flux, and his readiness matters not just for the lineup, but for how the club handles the middle infield and the players who have been waiting on the other side of this opening. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Need Their Ace To Answer In Season-Shaping Dodgers Finale
The Padres spent Saturday night getting buried by a Dodgers lineup that turned one inning into a rout, with nine runs coming across in the sixth on the way to a 15-3 loss. It was the kind of game that left little for San Diego to hang onto, as all five Padres pitchers were tagged for at least one run while Los Angeles starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto handled the other side of the matchup cleanly enough to keep the pressure on.
Now the focus shifts to the series finale, where Michael King gets the ball for San Diego opposite Emmet Sheehan. The Padres need King to steady a staff that was pushed around badly in the opener, but there is at least some reason for optimism after his recent rebound against Atlanta, when he delivered seven shutout innings and looked more like the top-of-the-rotation arm San Diego has been counting on. [Read more 🡒]