The San Diego Padres knew they would have their hands full against three top-end starters in their three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburgh, Fla. The Padres made the task of beating the Rays more difficult when they found themselves in a 6-0 hole after a five-run fourth inning. San Diego tried to get back in the game, but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome as the Padres dropped the series opener 9-4 on Friday night.
Casey Mize hit the leadoff batter Junior Caminero to open the bottom of the fourth inning. He then got a popout for the first out of the inning, but Chandler Simpson reached on a throwing error by Mize to put runners at the corners. Simpson promptly stole second base and Jonny DeLuca drew a six-pitch walk to load the bases. Mize got the ground ball he needed against Cedric Mullins, but Ty France was unable to get the ball out of his glove cleanly allowing Caminero to score and Mullins to reach first base. The Rays had a 2-0 lead and added to that when Mize threw a wild pitch that allowed Simpson to score. Jorge Mateo hit a sacrifice fly for the second out of the inning, but that allowed DeLuca to score to give Tampa Bay a 4-0 lead.
Mize then allowed a two-out RBI-single to Taylor Walls to give Tampa Bay a 5-0 lead and followed that with another two-out RBI-single to Yandy Diaz, which pushed the score to 6-0. Jonathan Aranda lined out to end the inning, but San Diego found itself in a deep hole.
The Padres answered with two runs in the top of the fifth inning to make the score 6-2 but the Rays answered back with a run in the bottom of the fifth to make the score, 7-2. Jackson Merrill, wo led the San Diego offense, tried to keep the Padres in the game when he connected on a two-run home run in the top of the sixth, which cut the Rays’ lead to three runs.
San Diego relievers David Morgan and Wandy Peralta allowed solo runs in the bottom of the sixth and bottom of the seventh innings respectively. The Padres went down without much of a fight in the eighth and ninth innings and they opened the six-game road trip with a five-run loss.
San Diego will try to get back in the win column when they meet Tampa Bay in Game 2 today at 1:10 p.m.
Padres News:
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Manny Machado is banged up, but that is normal for this stage of the season. He might have benefitted from an additional day off, but he was in the lineup as usual against the Rays.
Baseball News:
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