The Padres had a chance not only to sweep the Guardians, but to make it back to the .500 mark Thursday, but those hopes went by the wayside quickly in an 8-6 loss.
They found themselves in a hole before the seats were even warm as Cleveland tagged starter Ryan Weathers for five quick runs. The Guardians opened the game with three straight singles, and with one out – a strikeout by Josh Bell, briefly a Padre last year – Josh Naylor sent a line drive to center to drive in two.
Even so, Weathers almost got out of it, with another strikeout, but David Fry, with two outs, dealt the big blow, a three-run homer to left.
The Friars did get back in the game quickly, thanks to Manny Machado, who made Guardian starter Logan Allen pay for walking Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto, slamming his eighth homer of the year.
Weathers, though, was not long for the game. He went only 1.2 innings, giving up another run to leave the Padres down 6-3. They would pull as close as 7-6, but could not overtake Cleveland.
With his short outing, Weathers fell to 1-5 on the season, with an ERA of 6.08 to boot.
“The velo was there, like the game before, just the command wasn’t,” said manager Bob Melvin.
Meanwhile, watch for Machado’s next home run – it will be a milestone, as his first-inning shot tied him for the lead among players with the most homers at Petco Park.
The Padres welcome the team with the best record in the majors, the Tampa Bay Rays, to Petco Friday for a three-game series. Yu Darvish, Blake Snell – facing his old club – and Joe Musgrove will take the mound on “Star Wars Weekend” at the park.
