SAN DIEGO – For the third straight game the San Diego Padres couldn’t get five innings from their starting pitcher, falling 6-2 to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night at Petco Park.
Luis Arraez hit a two-run home run, but the Padres (76-63) were forced to use four relievers as Yu Darvish threw a season-high 87 pitches and was lifted after a leadoff walk to Jeremiah Jackson in the fifth inning, taking his fifth loss. Baltimore (63-76) scored a pair of runs against the San Diego bullpen.
San Diego left the base loaded in the seventh, stranding four in scoring position for the game. The Orioles had five more RISP at bats, getting four RBIs from third baseman Emmanuel Rivera.
The Padres remained two and a half games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, unable to make up ground on a night where LA lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates. With the New York Mets winning six of their last nine games, San Diego holds a one-game lead for the second NL Wild Card as the Padres have dropped four of their last six to sub-.500 teams, but remains five games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for the final Wild Card.
Arraez put the Padres on the board with two gone in the third inning, turning on an inside fastball from Baltimore starter Tyler Wells and hitting it out to right center field for his seven longball of the season. It cashed in Freddy Fermin, who had hit a double to the wall in left field that deflected off the glove of Dylan Beavers, and answered a two-RBI single by Rivera in the road half.
Manny Machado made a heads-up play to get Rivera for the final out of the third, cutting Ramón Laureano’s throw and snapping a throw across the diamond to catch the Orioles third baseman in a rundown.
But Darvish would not make it through the fifth inning, finishing with four innings pitched and six hits, four runs (three earned) and two walks to go with six strikeouts. Wandy Peralta came in and Baltimore loaded the bases on a Jake Cronenworth error, and then David Morgan came in and allowed the second two-RBI single of the game to Rivera.
It marked the seventh time out of the last nine games and third in a row where San Diego’s starter did not go at least five innings. Nick Pivetta had both five-plus efforts during the stretch, with the last non-Pivetta starter to have a qualifying start was Nestor Cortes on August 23 at Los Angeles.
Darvish allowed a home run in his sixth straight start when Jackson turned on a sweeper down the middle, launching it eight rows deep down the left field line in the first inning. It matched the second-longest stretch of his career; he had a run of nine consecutive during the 2021 season where he allowed 13 home runs from July 3 to September 4.
Jackson Merrill made his first start in just over two weeks, drawing sixth in the lineup and patrolling his regular spot in center field. Fernando Tatis Jr. also returned to his right field post and hit leadoff after an off-day “out of abundance of caution” according to Shildt on Monday.
The Padres will look to avoid being swept in a home series for the first time since the All Star break by starting Cortes (2-3, 5.06 ERA) against lefty Cade Povich (2-7, 5.04 ERA), with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m. at Petco Park.
This story was updated at 11:10 p.m.