In 2016 the Padres were 7-0 in games where they scored at least four runs and 0-11 in games they scored less than four runs. So when the Friars took a 5-3 lead on the Cardinals in the 5th inning of their series finale at Petco Park on Sunday fans had a pretty good feeling.
That feeling lasted five pitches.
Kevin Quackenbush came in to relieve Colin Rea, made five offerings and gave up a pair of home runs that tied the game and sparked an 8-5 Cardinals win.
The first dinger Quack allowed was an opposite field shot to former Padre Jedd Gyorko, who had six hits, including two homers and a triple, in his return to the East Village. The second came off the bat of Aledmys Diaz, who went 8-for-10 over the weekend.
Those homers tied it 5-5. Lefty Ryan Buchter, who along with Fernando Rodney has thrown really well in relief, stepped in and went 2.0 innings with four whiffs.
The Redbirds took the lead in the 8th with a trio of runs off Brandon Maurer. Both Maurer and Quackenbush saw their earned run averages jump over 7.00 in this series. This is not the kind of thing San Diego baseball fans are comfortable with seeing.
For years, the Padres were defined by their dominant bullpen. I’m not just talking about the closer, either. The entire collection of guys had filthy stuff. Here’s a list of how the Padres bullpen ERA ranked each year of the Petco Park era:
2004 = 8
2005 = 6
2006 = 3
2007 = 1
2008 = 25
2009 = 7
2010 = 1
2011 = 3
2012 = 9
2013 = 10
2014 = 2
2015 = 23
Perhaps new general manager A.J. Preller is not terribly adept at assembling ‘pens. He put together last year’s version with a whole bunch of new guys and dropped 21 spots and in 2016 things have degraded even more, especially over the weekend against the Cardinals.
The Padres relievers allowed 10 runs in 4.0 innings on Saturday night to spoil the MLB debut of Cesar Vargas and on Sunday the ‘pen got lit up again, allowing five runs in 4.0 innings, giving them 41 earned runs allowed so far this season. Only the Cincinnati Reds have been worse. Padres manager Andy Green does not see reason to panic yet.
"We've got plenty of capable pieces," said Green. "The last couple of days have been rough for us. I think you look back historically at who Kevin Quackenbush and Brandon Maurer are, they've been very good. Just a tough couple game stretch for us."
Offensively the Padres did their damage in the middle innings. In the 4th catcher Christian Bethancourt hammered a solo home run off Cardinals starter Mike Leake Fallbrook High School alum) to tie the game 3-3. In the 5th Melvin Upton Jr. gave the Padres the lead with an RBI single to score Jon Jay. Upton scored on an Alexei Ramirez RBI single.
Upton was ejected two innings later for taking issue with the strike zone of home plate umpire Sean Barber. Upton was not the only one who thought Barber was a little erratic. Green says the guy St. Louis has behind the plate had something to do with it.
"We all know Yadi (Yadier Molina, winner of eight Gold Glove Awards at catcher) is one of the best pitch framers in the game," said Green. "Give him credit for that. What that lends itself to sometimes is an expanded east to west zone. I haven't looked at film to make a determination of how much that occurred but our guys weren't thrilled about the width of the strike zone today."
On Monday the Padres start a 3-game set in San Francisco, their first look at the division-rival Giants. Drew Pomeranz gets the start against fellow lefty Madison Bumgarner.
