Padres baserunning blunders prove costly in 4-2 loss to Nationals

WASHINGTON -- San Diego had not one, but two critical mistakes on the bases in the late innings as the Padres dropped the rubber match to the Washington Nationals 4-2 on Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park. 

San Diego entered the seventh inning trailing 3-0 with just three hits to their name, none of which went for extra bases. However, a walk, bunt single and RBI double from Ty France placed the tying run on second base with no outs. A sac fly from Nick Castellanos moved France to third  and a walk to Sung-Mun Song put runners on the corners for Miguel Andujar, pinch hitting for Freddy Fermin. Washington would escape any further trouble with a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play to hold onto the one-run lead. 

After Washington added to the lead with a pinch-hit RBI double from Andres Chaparro, San Diego entered the ninth looking to rally in the series finale. 

A one-out single from Jackson Merrill set the stage and provided a chance for France to tie the game. On a 2-2 count, France took a slider on the outside corner for a called strike three as Merrill raced down to second looking to avoid a double play with the slow-running first baseman at the plate. Washington catcher Keibert Ruiz, who threw out Song to end the seventh, fired one to second and while he initially beat the throw, San Diego's centerfielder couldn't keep his hand on the bag as he slid and would be tagged out — ending the game.

The miscue capped off a rough week for San Diego. With Sunday's loss, the Padres finished the week with a 1-5 record after being swept at Petco Park by the Philadelphia Phillies and losing two out of three to the Nationals. 

The offensive continues to main focus for the recent slide, averaging 2.67 runs per game across the six game stretch. The top three in the San Diego order (Fernando Tatis Jr., Gavin Sheets, Manny Machado) went 0-12 with three strikeouts. 

"We haven't collectively been able to put at-bats together one through nine," Padres manager Craig Stammen said.

The lone bright spot in the San Diego lineup came from Merrill, who recorded half of the team's hits on Sunday and picked up his fourth three-hit game this season.

Griffin Canning made his sixth start for San Diego, tossing five innings and giving up three runs on six hits. The 30-year-old veteran starters drops to 0-4 with a 7.16 ERA this season.

James Wood, who was traded to Washington in August 2022 in the Juan Soto deal, delivered a big swing in the fifth — crushing a 417-foot homer to right-center that exploded off the bat at 113.8MPH. The two-run homer marked Wood's second career home run against the organization that traded him nearly four years ago.

San Diego will look to bounce back after an off day against the red-hot Phillies, who have won 21 of their last 30 games since Don Mattingly took over the managerial duties. Randy Vasquez (5-3, 3.28 ERA) will take the ball for San Diego while Aaron Nola (3-4, 5.72 ERA) makes his 12th start of the season for Philadelphia. 

The three-game series kicks off Tuesday at 3:40 PT.