Six weeks remain in the season, but many inside the Padres organization feel this weekend’s series against the Philadelphia Phillies could determine a lot about how a dragging team will respond going forward.
After completing what was almost certainly their most disappointing road trip in at least a decade — if largely because in most recent years going 1-6 against two of the major leagues’ bottom dwellers would not have been significant due to the lack of expectations — the Padres began a six-game homestand Friday night with a 4-3 loss to an opponent similarly desperate for a victory. (Box score.)
The Padres, who 11 days ago had a 4½-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds in the race for the final National League wild-card spot, are now tied with the Reds.
The Padres walked 10 times and had four hits, but they went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base.
“The good part was being able to grind the at-bats, getting on base,” manager Jayce Tingler said. “But obviously you want to be able to finish off those innings, and we weren’t able to do that tonight.
It could be argued not all of that was their fault.
Manny Machado responded early with a two-run homer that cut the Padres’ deficit to 3-2 in the third inning after the Phillies scored three runs in the top of the third.
Machado, however, was not able to finish the game after being ejected by home plate umpire Doug Eddings after a strikeout that ended the eighth inning.
The call on Machado was the seventh ball to a Padres hitter that Eddings called a strike. Eddings would also call a ball outside the zone a strike on Eric Hosmer in the ninth.
“We’re obviously frustrated with the zone,” Tingler said. “I don’t know what to say. Our guys, we’re not going to swing outside the zone. We’re not doing it, and they’ve been disciplined to (not) do it. I think throughout the night there’s balls, ball-and-a-half, whatever, off the plate. Something’s gotta give. Doug has got, I think, statistically the widest zone in the league, and we’re not swinging outside the zone. So something’s going to give at some point.”
Of the 13 calls Eddings missed Friday night, according to a review of the play-by-play on MLB.com, nine went against the Padres. (Eddings called one strike by Padres pitcher Tim Hill a ball, called two pitches in the zone balls for Padres batters and called two balls strikes against Phillies batters.)
That was much improved over July 24 in Miami, when Eddings missed 17 calls and 15 went against the Padres.
“I don’t think it’s personal,” Tingler said.
The Phillies, who had lost seven of nine to fall out of first place in the NL East, pushed their lead to two runs by scoring off Emilio Pagan in the top of the eighth.
With help from their ninth and 10th walks of the game, the Padres scored once in the eighth but then lost Machado and Tingler.
Tingler was tossed after he came out to argue a called strike well outside that put Machado behind 0-2. When Machado swung through strike three to end the inning, he began talking to Eddings. That escalated to his yelling and getting closer to Eddings, at which point Machado was ejected.
There was more talking and milling around, and crew chief Bill Miller ejected coach Ryan Flaherty.
Hosmer reached base for the fourth time with a walk that led off the eighth, and Wil Myers’ single put runners at the corners with no outs before Adam Frazier and Trent Grisham struck out and Tommy Pham walked. With the bases loaded, and most of the 40,297 in attendance screaming and many on their feet, Fernando Tatis Jr. came to the plate. He was hit in the helmet by an Ian Kennedy fastball to bring in Hosmer.
The Padres went down in order in the ninth, just the second inning they did so all game.
The Padres loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth inning when Hector Neris walked three of four batters, including the last one on four pitches, before Pham weakly grounded the first pitch he saw to shortstop for the third out.
“Tommy is one of the best at pitch recognition,” Tingler said of Pham, who is ranked fourth in the major leagues in chase rate and is generally so selective that he has the 14th-lowest rate of swinging at pitches in the zone. “And he’s usually a very, very good decision maker. So he obviously didn’t get the result he wanted.”
J.T. Realmuto’s tailing line drive off the left field wall, which followed a two-out walk and stolen base by Jean Segura, was the first hit Padres starter Blake Snell allowed and gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead. The next batter, Bryce Harper, sent a 3-2 slider well over the party deck and beyond the first section of seats in right field to make it 3-0.
Snell ended up striking out eight in five innings, throwing 92 pitches before being replaced by Pierce Johnson to start the sixth.
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August 21, 2021 at 12:59PM
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Padres lose opener to Phillies; umpire Doug Eddings again draws ire - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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