Yu Darvish dominated the Brewers Sunday, but Wade Miley did him one better, as the Padres dropped three of four to Milwaukee for the weekend.
Darvish went seven innings in the 1-0 loss, striking out 12, but the one run he gave up in the second, on a sacrifice fly following a bunt hit by Garrett Mitchell, a balk and a stolen base, was enough for the Brewers.
The balk owed to new rules intended to speed up the game and a miscommunication between Darvish, manager Bob Melvin and catcher Austin Nola, as the umpires assessed the balk against the starter for one “disengagement” – meaning pickoff attempts or stepping off the rubber – too many.
The Padres, who had broken out the day before in a 10-3 win, threatened in the bottom of the ninth. Juan Soto and Nola walked and Ha-Seong Kim singled, but Trent Grisham struck out looking while Brewer closer Devin Williams posted a hard-earned save.
Darvish took the loss, while Miley, who also went seven, giving up four hits, won it for the Brewers.
Melvin called the result “disappointing,” adding that in “a 1-0 game like that, where guys pitch like that, every little piece of it ends up being you know maybe worth a little bit more than in normal games.”
Meanwhile, Fernando Tatis Jr. remains on fire in his El Paso rehab assignment, hitting .515 with seven home runs and 15 RBIs in eight games. He still is due to return Thursday from his PED suspension, when the Padres start a road trip in Arizona.
The team welcomes the Braves to Petco Park to close the home stand with Ryan Weathers, Blake Snell and Nick Martinez getting the starts. The Monday and Tuesday games begin at 6:40 p.m., with Wednesday’s first pitch set for 1:10 p.m.
