Walker Buehler had been the most consistent starter in the San Diego Padres rotation, but that image took a critical hit when the right-hander allowed nine runs over the first three innings to the Chicago Cubs, and the Padres suffered an embarrassing 23-3 loss to cap a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field on Tuesday.
Buehler was atrocious from the start of the game. He allowed a leadoff single to Pete Crow-Armstrong who stole second and then advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Alex Bregman followed with a walk before Buehler recorded a strikeout against Michael Busch for the first out of the inning. Buehler’s success was short-lived because he then allowed a three-run home run to Seiya Suzuki and that set the stage for the rest of the game.
Buehler then allowed a solo home run to Dansby Swanson in the bottom of the second inning and followed that with a two-out two run single and a two-out three-run homer – again to Swanson – in the bottom of the third inning that gave the Cubs a commanding 9-0 lead over the Padres. It was the fourth home run San Diego pitching has allowed to Swanson in the past two games.
The lone bright spot for the Padres came in the top of the fifth inning when Sung-Mun Song hit his first MLB home run. San Diego added a second run in the inning on back-to-back doubles by Manny Machado and Ty France that cut the deficit to 9-2. That deficit, like Buehler’s success in the first inning, was short-lived. Kyle Hart came into pitch in the fifth inning and allowed a solo home run and then a three-run home run that extended the Chicago lead to 13-2 over San Diego. Hart was still on the mound in the bottom of the sixth inning when Michael Conforto connected on a two-run home run to make the score, 15-2.
The Padres added a meaningless run in the top of the eighth inning when Miguel Andujar singled through the right side of the infield to score Samad Tayor from third base. That capped the scoring for San Diego, but Chicago added another eight runs in the bottom of the eighth inning off position player pitcher Rodolfo Duran. Four of those runs came on a grand slam by Swanson, his third home run of the game, and the final run for the Cubs came on a solo home run from Busch, which brought the score to 23-3. It was a fitting end to an embarrassing game that capped a miserable series in Chicago.
San Diego heads to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium today at 7:10 p.m.
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