The Padres must win Sunday to avoid a sweep by the Blue Jays after a 5-2 loss at Petco Park.
They tried to eat away at a 4-0 deficit late Saturday but the rallies, in the seventh and eighth, resulted in only one run each inning.
The Friars had two men in scoring position after Luis Campusano and Eguy Rosario led off the seventh with a walk and a double. Xander Bogaerts hit a grounder to short to drive in Campusano, but reliever Yimi García replaced Génesis Cabrera and restored order, retiring both Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth.
With one out in the eighth, José Azocar doubled, then scored on a single by Ha-Seong Kim. After Jackson Merrill struck out, Campusano doubled, sending Kim to third. But Rosario grounded out to end the inning.
Bogaerts, Tatis and Cronenworth went down 1-2-3 in the ninth against Blue Jay Jordan Romano.
Overall, the Padres went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position on the night, a problem as they were down immediately.
Toronto scored three in the first off Randy Vásquez, newly called up from Triple-A El Paso, after a costly error by third baseman Graham Pauley, his teammate in El Paso. With two outs and two on, Daulton Varsho made the Padres pay, launching a line drive out of the park for a 3-0 lead.
Another problem: they were without Jurickson Profar and manager Mike Shildt, who were kicked out in the bottom of the first after a called third strike by umpire Ramon De Jesus.
Shildt said he “didn’t quite understand” why a silent Profar, who showed his anger over the call by throwing down his bat, then his helmet, didn’t receive a warning from De Jesus before being tossed.
As to trailing early, Shildt said, “We definitely put ourselves in holes. We haven’t helped ourselves. We haven’t been in enough positive counts consistently and we haven’t played clean enough.”
The Friars can avoid the sweep and move above .500 with a win at 1:10 p.m. Sunday. Joe Musgrove takes the mound against Chris Bassitt. The team leaves after the game, heading to Colorado to start a four-game series.