Rough start for Paddack, White Sox shut out Padres 6-0

The San Diego Padres entered Sunday’s game against the Chicago White Sox with an 11-3 record in Spring Training, which tops the Cactus League standings. The White Sox now sit at 9-6 as San Diego dropped to 11-4, which is still good for first place.

Chicago drilled three homers en route to the 6-0 win, while only giving up six hits.

Padres’ starter Chris Paddack was on the mound for San Diego, and it was safe to say the young pitcher didn’t have his best stuff. With Austin Hedges behind the plate, Paddack pitched 4.0 innings, giving up four earned runs off six hits.

Padres’ Closer Kirby Yates came in after Paddack in the fifth. Followed by Pierce Johnson in the sixth. Emilio Pagán in the seventh. Javy Guerra in the eighth and 2/3 of the ninth and Travis Radke came in for the final out of the ninth.

Yates had a smooth fifth inning as he didn’t give up a hit and struck out one, although he did walk Nomar Mazara. Pagán gave up two earned runs off the two-run homer by Yermin Mercedes in the top of the seventh inning.

Paddack had a solid first inning, but in the top of the second, White Sox third baseman Cheslor Cuthbert stepped up to the plate — and after smacking a foul ball homer — he sent one over the left field fence on the very next pitch. Paddack got him in an 0-2 hole but hung his signature changeup over the plate, and Cuthbert took advantage of it.

The Sheriff ran into even more trouble in the third as he continued to have location issues. After an infield single to start the inning, former Padre Yasmani Grandal doubled in a run, making the score 2-0. Cuthbert stepped up to the batter’s box again with two outs and drilled his second home run of the game over the left-center field fence, scoring Grandal.

Paddack would finish strong as he came back out in the fourth, forcing two groundouts and striking out Austin Romine to end his afternoon.

There wasn’t much action in terms of offense for the Padres’ starters. Eric Hosmer started the day going 3-3 with three singles, and Trent Grisham knocked two singles as well. Other than that, the only other starter to get on base was Jake Cronenworth, when he reached on an infield single in the fifth.

Tommy Pham started the day 0-3 with two strikeouts and a ground out. The new Padres’ left fielder has had a rough start to the spring, batting just .222. The Padres expect to see his first action in the outfield in the next few days as he is still recovering from elbow surgery.

Manny Machado went 0-3 and is batting just .050 this spring. Machado’s first and only hit so far was a home run in this first at-bat of the spring.

A player to keep an eye on for the rest of the spring is Javy Guerra. Guerra is a former shortstop who converted to a pitcher and is turning heads in Peoria. The right-hander has yet to give up a run and has only given up three hits while striking out five batters in 5.1 innings.

San Diego is back in action tomorrow as they host the rival Los Angeles Dodgers at 1:10 p.m. Padres expect shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. to be back in the lineup.

Chris Spiering

Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris is also an athlete and is huge fan of San Diego sports. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and contributes regularly about the Padres.