For hitters on a baseball team strikeouts are bad things. This is a point that needs to be made to the San Diego Padres.
The Friars struck out 15 times in a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks in Arizona on Sunday. Their 15 punchouts gave them 221 for the season, moving San Diego past the Baltimore Orioles and into the Major League lead in a category that nobody wants to lead.
One of the runs they scored even involved a strikeout. In the sixth inning, Wil Myers whiffed against Patrick Corbin but the ball got away and he ended up on first base. Christian Villanueva followed with a two-run home run to the opposite field, the seventh homer of the season for the Padres rookie infielder. Villanueva had two of San Diego's three hits in the game.
The Padres sent rookie left-hander Joey Lucchesi to the mound and he was not as sharp as he's been lately. Lucchesi only walked four hitters total over his first four starts but walked four on Sunday alone. His undoing was the fourth inning.
With runners at the corners and one out, Lucchesi had A.J. Pollock picked off first base but threw the ball right over Eric Hosmer's head and down the right-field line to let a run come home. Just two pitches later, Lucchesi left a breaking ball out over the plate and Nick Ahmed ripped a two-run home run to put Arizona on top 3-0.
The Diamondbacks take two out of three in the series. The Padres start a three-game set in Colorado on Monday.
