ATLANTA - Back in June, the San Diego Padres were fortunate enough with the schedule to avoid the Atlanta Braves 37-year-old ace Chris Sale (11-6, 2.19 ERA) during their three game sweep at Petco Park.
This time around at Truist Park, they could not evade one of the league’s most consistent pitchers over the last decade and a half.
Although the results ended with the Padres falling short 6-5 in another late comeback on Thursday and dropping to a 2-5 record during their ongoing 10 game road stand, they gave themselves a chance to take a game against a respected quality arm.
The Padres (50-53) managed to score three runs in the second inning off Sale despite one being credited following a fielding mental error by Mauricio Dubón. Fernando Tatis Jr. scored an RBI walk and Luis Rengifo cashed in with a two-run single to right field that left Sale fired up on the mound, knowing that they took advantage of the one rare mishap.
But even with them capitalizing against Sale, it still wasn’t enough to help secure a win.
And it continues to be the same old story with the Padres this season. One department is clicking, while the other is not. And the consistent issues with the team not being able to put up a collective performance carries on to be a significant issue as to why the team cannot build any momentum during this pivotal stretch of the season with the trade deadline being 11 days away.
Right-hander Griffin Canning did his usual bulk inning role and started the second inning after a hitless first frame by left-hander Kyle Hart. Canning would give up a solo home run on his second pitch of the game against Michael Harris II before retiring the next six batters.
But similar to most of his games pitched this season, it would go completely awry. Canning gave up four runs in the fourth, including a pair of long balls by Ozzie Albies to lead off the inning and a three run shot from Dominic Smith, connecting on a changeup near the middle of the zone.
"Couldn't keep the ball in the ballpark," Padres manager Craig Stammen said. "When the other team hits four home runs, it's tough to win ballgames."
The 30-year-old did not finish the fourth and was replaced with two outs by left-hander Yuki Matsui after throwing 28 pitches during the inning. Canning finished with 2 ⅔ innings pitched, allowing five runs (four earned), five hits and four strikeouts. He now has a team high 6.97 ERA and also has the most loss credited on the Padres (1-9).
"It's kind of how the whole year has felt," Canning said. "I made a lot of really good pitches, and the ones I don't, they're jumping on and putting good swings on them."
Matsui pitched a scoreless 1 ⅓ inning, right-hander Matt Waldron gave up three hits and a solo homer to catcher Drake Baldwin to make it 6-3 during his two innings of work and right-hander Bradgley Rodriguez struck out a pair in the eighth inning.
Conversely, Sale was lights out even with the three run blemish during the second and ended his outing by pitching six innings and matching his season high 11 strikeouts. He retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced.
"He got in a groove," Tatis Jr. said. "He got angry, and then he just starts making pitches."
The only hit during the span was on a one out single by Rengifo during the fifth. It would be the only offensive production they could construct until the eighth inning when the Padres made it a one run game following a one-out single by Manny Machado followed up by Ty France’s 16th home run of the season.
The offense did flare a late rally in the ninth with two outs following back-to-back singles by Jake Cronenworth and Tatis Jr but Rengifo would end game striking out for a third time.
"We scratched and clawed in that second inning against Sale, got three on the board, felt really good about that," Stammen said. "Their bullpen is really good. We still scored two off their bullpen, put a rally together in the ninth. So a lot of positive things from our offense against one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. Pitching has got to pick up our offense in that situation."
San Diego now stands three games under .500 and are three and a half games back from the Diamondbacks for the last Wild Card spot. They are also 15 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.
The Padres will cap off their road trip with a three-game series against the Miami Marlins starting on Friday at 4:10 p.m. While the Marlins are still undecided on naming their starting pitcher, the Padres will have right-hander Germán Márquez (4-2, 5.24 ERA) take the mound for his 10th start of the season.