Good morning from San Francisco,
That was necessary.
Yesterday’s game was not a must-win. It feels silly to even feel the need to clarify that with 129 games remaining in the season.
But yesterday’s win was necessary.
Truly good teams don’t allow losing streaks to fester. Truly good teams find a way to get out of skids.
And that is what the Padres did in beating the White Sox 4-3 yesterday.
“I mean, a lucky hit today is nice,” Xander Bogaerts said.
You can read in my game story (here) about Bogaerts’ single that bounced off home plate, Griffin Canning’s solid debut and how the Padres broke a four-game losing streak in a manner that prompted this assessment from manager Craig Stammen:
“Anytime you’re on a little bit of a losing streak where you’ve lost a few in a row and it just doesn’t seem like we’re playing that good of baseball and things aren’t quite going our way, it just feels good to finally squeeze one across. We worked hard today to get that done. It didn’t come easy. We didn’t play amazing baseball. We didn’t take amazing at-bats. But we hung in there and figured out a way to score one more than them.”
Welcome addition
Canning began his Padres career as sort of a stopper.
Pitching in a major league game for the first time in 10 months, the right-hander helped his new team win for the first time in six days.
“More than we expected, probably, the way he dominated the last four innings,” manager Craig Stammen said after the Padres’ 4-3 victory over the White Sox. “First inning (was) to be expected; a little bit of nerves. Hasn’t been out there for a while, probably a lot of thoughts going through his brain. … And he got through it, and then he kind of cruised the last four.”
That is pretty much exactly what happened, as Canning recovered from a first inning in which he threw just nine strikes among his 21 pitches, walked two batters and escaped when the White Sox’ Sam Antonocci made an ill-advised attempt to score from second base on an infield single.
“A little bit of adrenaline going that first inning,” Canning said. “So it wasn’t quite sharp. … Just to get out of there with the zero and kind of settle in was really nice.”
Four innings later, after striking out the side in the fifth, Canning walked off the mound to an ovation with the Padres leading 3-1.
That lead evaporated two innings later, but Canning had done his part and did nothing to dispel the organization’s belief he will be an incredible bargain.
“I think this is what we expected when we signed him — that he had the potential to be someone that we could rely on and count on and get quality starts consistently through the season,” Stammen said. “… He’s coming off a major injury. There’s bound to be hiccups. But he’s off to a good start, and we feel very confident about him going forward.”
Canning, who early in the spring signed a one-year contract that guarantees him $2.5 million, had surgery last summer to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon in his left leg. He suffered the injury fielding a groundball on June 26 while pitching for the Mets.
“I just had a lot of fun being out there and competing again,” he said yesterday.
Canning’s injury ended what had been a renaissance season for the six-year veteran. He had through 16 starts posted a 3.77 ERA by adding and altering some pitches and pitching differently.
He did not use all of his repertoire yesterday, but he did throw his first five sinkers since 2024 and, even though it did not register on StatCast, he featured a sweeper at least twice.
More than anything, it was his changeup, which he threw 25 times in 73 pitches, that got him outs and got him out of trouble. He got six misses on 12 swings against it.
“That changeup is a serious pitch,” Bogaerts said.
Worked out
The Padres solved their rotation equation — for now — when they placed Germán Márquez on the 15-day injured list with right forearm nerve inflammation.
“It’s in the early stages, just evaluating it a little bit,” Stammen said. “Obviously, it’s in the forearm. So always concerning when you’re talking about a pitcher. But I think it’s not going to be too long. It’ll be one of those where he just needs some time off, and then he’ll get back throwing again. And then we’ll have a better Germán Márquez, hopefully.”
Márquez, who has a 5.76 ERA in six starts (29⅔ innings), going on the shelf made room on the roster for Canning. And it presumably kept Matt Waldron in the rotation to make his next start Wednesday in San Francisco against the Giants.
The Padres will have another decision to make by May 16, which is the longest Lucas Giolito can be in the minor leagues after he signed with the team last month.
Mr. Consistent
The Padres’ overall offensive numbers are abysmal, and almost no one has stayed hot from the start of the season.
And it is actually worse than that.
Jackson Merrill’s .211 batting average and .609 OPS are even that good because he went 9-for-20 with four doubles and a home run in five games from April 11 to 16.
Ramón Laureano built the bulk of his .237 average and .710 OPS by starting the season 7-for-18 with a double and two home runs.
Manny Machado singled and homered yesterday to raise his average to .229 and OPS to .742, but a good portion of his production came in a five-game stretch from April 22 to 27 (much of which was played at elevation) when he went 9-for-22 with two doubles and two homers.
Bogaerts did hit .356 with a 1.022 OPS over 20 games in April and is batting a respectable .269/.351/.412. Luis Campusano batted .385 with seven doubles and three home runs over a 13-game stretch last month and is batting .300 with a .972 OPS in 54 plate appearances.
But the most (only real) consistent producer from the start of the season to now has been Miguel Andujar, who homered yesterday and has the Padres’ highest batting average (.316) and the highest OPS (.843) among anyone on the team with more than 53 plate appearances.
His 83 plate appearances are not enough for him to be a qualifier, as his time has been limited due to a balky left hamstring.
It was not anticipated Andujar would play every day anyway. He has not started more than 77 games in a season since his rookie year in 2018 due to various injuries.
The Padres signed him to a one-year deal that guarantees him $4 million almost entirely because of his history hitting left-handed pitchers and their need for someone who could do so.
But it is right-handers he is feasting on this season.
“I’m comfortable against righties and lefties,” said Andujar, whose ongoing eight-game hitting streak is tied for the longest by a Padres hitter this season with the one Camupusano put together last month. “Anytime I’m going to play, I’m going to execute.”
He is 20-for-55 with four doubles, a triple and a home run against righties and 5-for-24 with two doubles and a home run against lefties. That home run came yesterday against Anthony Kay.
Said Stammen: “The way he has hit the ball this season thus far, the at-bats that he’s taken, we feel pretty confident when he’s in the box.”
Better battle
During the Padres’ 16-3 run from April 5 through Sunday, they did one particular thing relatively well that enabled their offense to be effective enough.
Even when they weren’t overwhelming starting pitchers — so, essentially every game — they drove up their pitch counts enough to prompt a bad inning or, at the least, get the starter out of the game sooner.
Generally, they found their groove after the first inning or two or three.
“We are definitely better the second time through the lineup and third time through the lineup,” Stammen said recently. “Most teams are. But I think it’s drastic with us.”
What makes their numbers drastic is that the Padres are significantly worse than the MLB average the first time facing a pitcher in a game and about average the next two times through the order.
They were not successful in that same manner this past week.
They had quality starts thrown against them in the three games leading up to yesterday, including White Sox starters Noah Schultz and Sean Burke throwing six scoreless innings on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The Cubs’ Jameson Taillon allowed them three runs over seven innings on Wednesday. In the first game of the losing streak, Edward Cabrera fell one out shy of a quality start.
The Padres made those four pitchers throw an average of fewer than 15 pitches per inning. They made the previous 16 starters (and three bulk relievers) throw an average of 18 pitches per inning.
Additionally, against the four starting pitchers who worked against them during the losing streak, the Padres batted just .203/.242/.339 the second and third time through the lineup.
A few players and Stammen spoke Saturday about the need to be more intentional from the start of games.
They got around to getting after Kay in yesterday’s fourth inning.
Andujar led off with a home run. Machado hit a one-out homer. Bogaerts and Ty France singled. Both of them moved up a base on Nick Castellanos’
groundout, and Bogaerts scored on a passed ball that came on ball four to Freddy Fermin.
“I think we were a little off in the last few games,” Machado said. “Kind of like just being a little passive and not being us. … To go out there (against Kay and) first time through the lineup, didn’t get to him. And then the second time around, Miggy started off the inning there with the homer and being aggressive and taking a pitch. So, yeah, I mean, that was a big inning for us. I think it kind of gave us a little motivation to keep going and move forward.”
And later …
The Padres did something else yesterday that had been their hallmark earlier in the season but was missing last week. They secured their victory late.
Yesterday was the 10th time they have taken the lead for good in the seventh inning or later. They had failed to do so when given a reasonable opportunity in three of the four losses.
They are batting .292 and have an .897 OPS in late and close situations this season, both of which rank third in the major leagues.
“It’s crazy to describe,” said Laureano, who struck out his first three times up yesterday before walking and scoring the winning run in the eighth inning. “It feels like we are more locked in in those situations. … It’s just the most important thing that we’re winning ballgames. We have competitors. At the end of the day, that is what is going to win ballgames.”
High to low
The Padres did not make a big deal out of it, but they don’t think there is any question the week spent in the thin air of Denver and Mexico City affected them during their 2-4 homestand.
“It feels like we were in outer space,” Laureano said. “Coming back from the trip, we came back to earth.”
I wrote earlier in the week that the Padres believed Machado’s calf cramping, which caused him to leave Monday’s game and miss Tuesday’s, was partially attributable to the long games played at 5,280 and 7,350 feet above sea level.
Machado is as excuse-averse as any player I’ve ever covered. So consider this essentially an acknowledgement that the altitude took its toll:
“I mean, yes and no,” he said. “Yeah, it was a long road trip for us. You know, we were in altitude for a really long time. But I don’t really think it affected us. I mean, I don’t know. Yes, no, maybe. Who knows? … I think we just couldn’t pick up those big hits that we needed, that we’ve been doing for the last month. We just couldn’t get that big hit. So I think that was the only big difference.”
Manny, Manny, Manny. Not all explanations are excuses. It’s OK.
The fact is, it is widely believed Rockies hitters and pitchers having to go back and forth between sea level and a mile high is among the biggest detriments to their success. And the Padres got the Rockies experience over the past couple weeks.
It isn’t just the way altitude affects hydration and energy. It is that both pitchers and hitters have to adjust to the different way pitches move when they return to sea level.
“We had a really long road trip that was a lot physically taxing, mentally taxing,” Stammen said. “We came back. We played really good against the Cubs the first game and then lost a couple close ones, and then we didn’t play our best against the White Sox the first two days, but came out and salvaged one today. So it just speaks to the toughness of our team. We’re a pretty tough team. Pretty mentally tough. I like how these guys get after it every day. They’re not giving in. They’re not making excuses. And it shows today, you know, to stop a losing streak in its tracks.”
Better than it looks
Adrian Morejón’s confounding season continues.
After striking out all three batters he faced in yesterday’s sixth inning, the left-hander allowed a single and a game-tying home run to pinch-hitter Derek Hill at the start of the seventh.
It was the second homer Morejón has allowed this season, matching the total he allowed in 75 appearances in 2025.
Here is a look at Morejón this season versus last:
We have talked a few times in previous newsletters about his misfortune with some seeing-eye groundball singles and the occasional defensive lapses behind him.
Morejón is throwing harder than ever and still breaking off some dastardly breaking pitches and throwing an increasingly wicked changeup.
For a reliever, though, sometimes all it takes to sully an outing is one bad pitch, such as the 99 mph fastball Morejón teed up in the heart of the strike zone for Hill.
“While Adrian did give up a home run today, he threw the ball really, really, really, really well,” Stammen said. “Outside of one pitch, you could say that was the best 30 pitches he’s maybe thrown all season. So it is what it is. Sometimes you’re going to give up home runs. That’s the price of doing business out of the bullpen.”
Physical over mental
Stammen has given all of his regulars at least two days off and has stressed the importance of keeping players fresh. Further, he had indicated earlier in the week that he would give everyone a day by the end of the weekend.
So it was entirely believable when he said that Fernando Tatis Jr. sitting yesterday was not a quest to give him a mental break as he continues to seek his first home run of the season.
“Mentally, this guy is tougher than nails,” Stammen said. “He’s got to deal with a lot — all the attention and the expectations. And he handles it really well. These days off are all physical in my mind. I trust how these guys’ minds are. We’re talking to them every day. They’re smiling and laughing. Those are good things. They’re working hard every single day.
“I think part of it is coming off a pretty long road trip where we’re at elevation, and he’s playing right field, second base, running a lot over the field. It’s just good to give him a physical day off so he can refresh himself and get ready to have a good series in San Francisco.”
Stammen said something similar earlier in the week in relation to other players getting days off.
Now, Stammen did not say there isn’t an ancillary benefit to a player being able to rest his mind along with his body.
(No telling what to read into this, since Tatis has one fly ball in his past 15 balls in play. But he has hit 10 home runs in 127 at-bats at Oracle Park.)
Tidbits
Fermin successfully challenged two ball calls yesterday, both of which ended strikeouts. He is 13 for 19 on challenges, 10th best in the majors among catchers who have challenged at least 15 calls.
Morejón made his 200th appearance with the Padres yesterday, the 23rd pitcher to have reached that mark.
After two consecutive appearances in a non-save situation, during which he allowed his first two runs of the season and struck out two of the 10 batters he faced, Mason Miller extended his MLB lead with his 11th save by striking out three of the four batters he faced in the ninth inning yesterday. Miller has struck out the side in seven of his 16 appearances this season.
Machado, Bogaerts and France were all 2-for-4 yesterday. It was just the second time this season the Padres have gotten multiple hits from all three players in the middle of their lineup and the third time the 4-5-6 spots have combined for at least six hits.
France is 8-for-23 (.348) in his past six games. He has multiple hits in five of his 15 starts.
When the Padres took a 3-1 lead in yesterday’s fourth inning, it was the first time they had led since Monday. There have been just nine games this season in which the Padres never held a lead, and four of them were this week. Three of them came in the season’s first five games.
Not every National League West team is on a losing streak anymore. The Dodgers also won yesterday. The Diamondbacks (four), Giants (six) and Rockies (four) remain on skids.
All right, that’s it for me.
Talk to you tomorrow.