Manaea mediocre again in Padres 4-3 loss
Early opportunities squandered against a rookie pitcher and another mediocre start from Sean Manaea sunk the San Diego Padres in south beach against the Miami Marlins, 4-3.
Manaea has cemented himself at the bottom of the rotation given his performances over the last two months. In his last 11 starts(including today), Manaea has allowed 39 earned runs in 54 innings, which equates to a 6.50 ERA. The Padres were surely hoping for a rebound start from the left-hander against an offense who last scored four runs on July 29. He lasted just four innings and allowed three earned runs before an early hook from Padres manager Bob Melvin.
“[Manaea] had a bit of a tired arm out there today,” Melvin said. “Certain times over the course of the season I gotta identify that it’s not the best stuff out there. It’s been a long year for him, so I wanted to give him a little bit of a break.”
🚨THIS IS NOT A MISTAKE. HE HOMERED AGAIN.🚨 pic.twitter.com/w8cw4AoaWj
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) August 17, 2022
Manny Machado continued his tear at the plate with a game-tying three-run triple in the top of the seventh. After getting shutout Monday, Machado’s double got the Padres on the board, and served as his first hit of the game. A ninth inning single marked his seventh straight game with multiple hits.
Next half inning, Luis Garcia allowed a run to give the Marlins the lead again. This spelled the first time in 17 games the Marlins scored more than three runs.
Josh Bell, who seemed to be a major boost the Padres lineup at the trade deadline, is hitless in his last five games, all from the cleanup spot. As a Padre, he is 6-48 with just one double to go with his .125 batting average.
With Juan Soto and Machado on base in the ninth with no outs, Bell, Jake Cronenworth and Wil Myers all struck out to end the game.
San Diego needs Bell to be better and more like the hitter earlier this year on the Washington Nationals, especially now that Fernando Tatis Jr. is not returning to the lineup this year.
The Padres went 1-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners. San Diego has lost three of their last four to the bottom dwellers in the NL East.
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With the loss, the Padres fail to win the series in Miami for the third straight trip to Florida. San Diego will look to avoid the sweep Wednesday when they send Mike Clevinger to the mound. Pablo Lopez will be his opponent, who threw eight scoreless in San Diego in the Marlins lone win over the Padres in San Diego this past May. First pitch will be at 1:10 PT.
Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”