The San Diego Padres finally ended the scoreless streak by Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sánchez, but were undone by a duo of late home runs in a 3-2 loss on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday night.
Reliever Jason Adam allowed a pair of home runs in the bottom of the seventh that turned the game, as the Padres (32-28) were unable to do much in the few times they got traffic on the bases. J.T Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber hit solo home runs for the Phillies (32-29), who made it five in a row against the Padres this season.
Jackson Merrill broke Sánchez’s scoreless streak at 50 2/3 when he singled through the left side with two gone in the seventh inning. It scored Ty France, who had tagged a double off a low changeup to extend the inning.
“Are we in the movie ‘Ground Hog Day’ right now? Two games that mirrored the last two day in Philly, we’re playing a similar team to us, they’re kind of going through the similar struggles offensively,” manager Craig Stammen said. “”They’re just getting a few more home runs when they’re playing against us, so we’ve got to figure how to match ‘em and bring our A game tomorrow”
Xander Bogaerts wore an up and in fastball with the bases loaded in the eighth, converting after a pair of singles by Fernando Tatis Jr. and Miguel Andujar and Gavin Sheets drew a walk. Otherwise, the Padres offense was silent. San Diego left seven on bases.
That was the extent of the scoring for the Padres, who were able to convert one of their three RSIP situations and left seven runners in the game.
“(Wlaker Buehler) matched Sánchez almost pitch for pitch, gave them one run,” Buehnler said.? “Got the third time a little bit which was good to see for our
Buehler gave them the leeway, allowing just four hits and a walk while striking out four in his six innings of work that the Phillies managed just one run against him.
The run against Buehler came in the fifth inning, when he allowed two of his four hits for the game. Bryson Stott led the inning off with a double, and then Adolies García lined a double to deep center field, giving the Phillies the lead at the time.
Wandy Peralta got the final out of the seventh for Adam and pitched the eighth, getting a double play to erase his one hit allowed in 1 1/3 innings.
The final game of the series will see Lucas Giolito (2-0, 4.97 ERA) get the start against righty Zach Wheeler (4-1, 2.17 ERA), who prior to his last start in LA had not allowed a run in two previous starts. Those are his only spotless starts. First pitch is scheduled for 10:05 a.m. PT at Citizens Bank Park.