Offensive woes persist as Padres are swept in Anaheim
The Padres’ offense was unable to execute for the third consecutive night, culminating in their second sweep of the season against a sub-.500 team.
San Diego mustered six hits against Angels starter Jose Soriano, unable to push across a run until the sixth inning.
The offense was led by Fernando Tatis Jr, who continues his hot month of June with a 4-for-4 showing, raising his hitting streak to 11 games. Luis Arraez had two hits, including an RBI double, and Luis Campusano broke his 0-for-26 streak (before this game) with a sixth-inning base hit.
The pitching for San Diego put up a solid outing. Dylan Cease delivered a quality start by definition, tossing six innings with three runs allowed.
Cease would record 17 swings and misses in 104 pitches thrown, but there would be some missed locations, which would again spell trouble for the right-hander. A mislocated slider to Nolan Schanuel resulted in a leadoff homer, and a fastball in Zach Neto‘s swing path led to another homer. Cease would overall deliver six strikeouts and one walk outside of four hits allowed.
The Padres were unable to capitalize on their scoring opportunities.
Luis Arraez led off the game with a hit but was thrown out trying to squeeze out an extra base on a single by Fernando Tatis Jr.
When the Padres broke through in the sixth inning, they had the tying run on base after Tatis singled in Arraez, but Jose Soriano would strand the runner at first after two ground ball outs and a 108.2 mph laser off the bat of Jurickson Profar that would land in the glove of Kevin Pillar at the center field wall. The seventh would see San Diego get two runners on, but they would again squander the opportunity. The story would mostly be the same in the eighth inning, as San Diego failed to capitalize on baserunners, a theme over the last four games.
Injury Update
Padres third baseman Manny Machado left the game in the fourth inning after grounding into a force out.
He appeared in pain as he ran down the line, pushing it to avoid the double play. However, despite his best pleas, he was pulled from the game as a precaution. After the game, Padres manager Mike Shildt would tell reporters that Machado had suffered a “mild hip flexor strain,” saying his team’s third baseman is currently day-to-day.
The Padres return to action tomorrow against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park. Randy Vasquez starts for the Friars against Arizona’s Slade Cecconi. First pitch is set for 6:40 pm
A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.
A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.