In the second of three against the Bronx Bombers, the Padres fell behind early and could not draw even, dropping their second game in a row. 

San Diego’s bats continued their home struggles, registering only three hits against Yankees starter Marcus Stroman.

The Padres’ lone extra-base hit would come on a triple by Jake Cronenworth, rocketed at 100.1 mph down the line to lead off the fourth, but he would be stranded as the team would be unable to score the run.

That would be the Padres’ best scoring opportunity of the night against the Yankee starter, who would toss six innings of shutout baseball. This continued a trend for the Padres, as entering the game, they batted a lowly .222 as a team at Petco Park this season. 

Dylan Cease made his tenth start of the season for the Padres and was greeted by a two-run homer by Aaron Judge on a curveball that hung.

Despite the early blemish, Cease would retire the next eight before a Yankee rally in the third pushed across two more. It wouldn’t quite be a bounceback for Cease after his last outing in Atlanta, but the lack of walks was a positive sign for the right-hander. His final line was four runs on eight hits over 6.2 innings, but he would record nine strikeouts on the way. Cease’s slider was in peak form again, as he recorded a 53% whiff percentage on the pitch, up from his last start (40%). “I thought he was fantastic. He threw the ball really well,” Mike Schildt said after the game about Cease. 

The Padres’ offense finally scored in the eighth inning with a solo homer by Fernando Tatis Jr. It was Tatis’ first home run since May 12 against the Dodgers and a much-needed hit for Tatis, who is batting .172 over his last seven games. The Padres would get another runner on, but a broken-bat grounder by Manny Machado would end the threat. 

Enyel De Los Santos would fend off a Yankee threat in the ninth as the Padres prepared to face Clay Holmes, who yielded four runs to blow a save against Seattle just five days ago. However, the Padres would be unable to produce a rally off of the Yankee closer, losing by a final of 4-1.

This game marked the sixth defeat in eight games at Petco Park since May 2, despite a 9-4 record on the road in that span. Should the Padres want to be true contenders, better performances in front of the Friar Faithful will surely be needed.

The series wraps up tomorrow at 1:10 pm Pacific, with Joe Musgrove on the mound.

Diego Garcia

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.