A fourth inning error by starting pitcher Casey Mize ended up hurting San Diego for five runs as the Padres dropped the first game of their road trip to the AL leading Tampa Bay Rays 9-4 on Friday night at Tropicana Field.
Jackson Merrill kept being productive, hitting a two-run home run as part of a 2-for-3 day with two RBI and two runs scored for the Padres (72-63). Tampa Bay (80-54) had six different players drive in a run, with Yandy Díaz and Cedric Mullins each notching a pair of RBI as the Rays scored in five innings.
"Not our prettiest game on any side of the ball tonight," manager Craig Stammen said.
"(Tampa Bay) found some holes tonight, one of the home runs was hit that hard and got out, but that's how they play. (They) steal bases, put pressure one you, they make you play the defense in different spots to account for their speed and the bunt game, so (if) they get a bunch of people on base they're hard to defend, and they made it hard to defend after we made a few mistakes."
All four of the San Diego runs came in the middle innings, getting a pair of runs in the fourth and fifth against Tampa Bay starter Shane McClanahan, who earned his 10th win.
Merrill hit a two-run shot, his 22nd home run, after Ty France walked with two down in the sixth to pull the Padres within sniffing range, but Rays added another run in the bottom. Reliever David Morgan allowed a one-out single to Taylor Walls, then a two-out single by Junior Caminero brought him home after a walk, pushing it back out to a four run deficit.
The sixth was especially painful, as Xander Bogaerts hammered a pitch by reliever Manuel Rodríguez, but it was high enough to hit off the fair territory catwalks in the roof and fell back for Junior Caminero to catch the ricochet in foul territory.
"The ball was not bouncing our way tonight, that is a fact, and that's probably the most indicative play of the night that (as) we're just starting to mount a little bit of a comeback, we've scored four runs, we're within three, (Bogaerts) smokes a ball off a reliever that hits the two-foot wide white pole, 300 feet away," Stammen said. "Unfortunately that's the way Xander's season has gone this year, just a lot of bad luck, he's been as unlucky of a player as I've seen all year.
"He's hitting a lot of bullets and getting nothing to show for it and tonight was another one."
San Diego got a pair of runs in the fifth, loading the bases on a Merrill walk, a Bogaerts single and then Austin Hays reaching when second baseman Jorge Mateo botched a grounder for an error. Freddy Fermin knocked one in with an RBI ground-out to short that Mateo couldn’t turn a double play on a double-clutch, then Jake Cronenworth knocked in the second with a fielder’s choice to second, cutting down the man at the middle bag.
Tamp Bay's big damage came in the five-run fourth, after Mize boxed the comebacker off the bat of Chandler Simpson. He had hit Caminero with a pitch to lead off the inning, and then loaded the bases by walking Jonny DeLuca while failing on an ABS challenge along the way.
Mullins scored on a slow grounder to first for an RBI, then a wild pitch allowed Simpson to score, with Jorge Mateo following with a sacrifice fly for the second out of the inning. But the Rays poured it on as Walls smacked an RBI single to left, then Díaz roasted an RBI liner through the middle before the final out of the inning.
Mize had looked no worse for wear initially after dealing with an ankle sprain after going down the dugout steps awkwardly his last time out, where he didn’t make it through the third inning.
The Rays first got to him with two down in the third inning, as Díaz took advantage of a sinker that stayed up and on the outer third, hitting his 20th home run down the right field line to open the scoring. It was the second of six hits Mize ended up allowing.
Tampa added their seventh run in the fifth, as Simpson singled to center and then stole second, ultimately getting driven in by a DeLuca single.
Mize finished with five innings pitched and had one strikeout and one walk to go with his seven runs allowed, with only two of them earned.
The Rays tacked on one against David Morgan, who returned from an IL stint for left knee inflammation, with an RBI single dumped to shallow right by Caminero after a Walls single and a Jonathan Aranda walk with two down.
Wandy Peralta replaced Morgan, and in the seventh allowed a solo home run to Mullins that held up against a crew chief’s review when a fan appeared to reach over the fence to catch the ball in right field. Ironically, the fan was wearing a Fernando Tatis Jr. jersey, with Tatis giving him a jumping fist-bump just before the call was announced to confirm the home run.
"I don't think there was a good angle to determine whether that ball was over the fence or not, the kid made a good play in right field, a Padres fan. Fernando thought when he went up he hit the kid's glove and he hit the fence. Either way it was definitely a close enough play to review and see if New York had a better angle," Stammen said.
Griffin Canning pitched the final 1 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and striking out three.
Walker Buehler (8-6, 4.36 ERA) will get the nod on Friday, having gone through six each of his past three outings. He’ll face righty Nick Martinez (13-4, 2.93 ERA), who is coming off a six inning, one hit and no run outing at Baltimore after matching his season high of six runs and nine hits allowed against Toronto.
"You have games where things just don't go you way and you maybe don't play good on top of that, but the good thing is, tomorrow, today doesn't matter and we can move on, show up with a good attitude and energy, give a little bit more effort and try to put a good game out there and get a W," Stammen said.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PT on Saturday, Aug. 29 at Tropicana Field.
This story was updated at 7:31 p.m.