Will the real San Diego Padres please stand up?
This club will swing from really good to really bad and back at the drop of a hat. After sweeping 1st place Milwaukee the Friars are on the brink of being swept by last place Pittsburgh.
The Padres lost to the Pirates 6-3 on Saturday when they went back to the bad old pattern of striking out and an ineffective bullpen.
San Diego batters punched out 12 times (Hunter Renfroe had four of them) but the good news is Manny Machado has become Manny Machado. The big-ticket free agent signee had two hits including another long home run (his 16th of the year) on Saturday. After a slow start to his Padres career the 3rd baseman has a 10-game hitting streak where he's hitting .465 with six home runs.
Rookie Chris Paddack returned from the minor leagues to make the start. He allowed two runs in 5.0 innings with an uncharacteristic three walks and just one strikeout.
The game was tied 2-2 in the 8th inning when Craig Stammen had another rough outing. A leadoff triple, a couple of walks, back to back singles and a sacrifice fly gave the Pirates four runs and their 5th straight win over the Padres.
Pittsburgh can sweep the series on Sunday if they can beat Joey Lucchesi. He'll take the mound against San Diego native Steven Brault.
