The Padres had Thursday off at home, a rare treat during the baseball season. Before the game manager Bob Melvin said sometimes it's helpful for a team that's scuffling to get away from the game for a bit.
That was not the case for this team that is now in danger of having its season spiral irrevocably out of control.
Blake Snell had another bad outing and the offense was once again inept in a 6-1 loss to the Red Sox on Friday night at Petco Park. After plowing through the first inning on 14 pitches, striking out a pair, it looked like Snell might be back to the dominant lefty he's shown the capacity to be.
Then Rafael Devers ripped a solo home run off a curve ball into the right field seats and everything went haywire.
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Devers led off the 2nd inning with a long homer. Maybe that was the seed of doubt that led to Snell's undoing. He allowed a double to Connor Wong to lead off the 3rd inning then walked Alex Verdugo and Justin Turner to load the bases with nobody out. When Snell starts issuing free passes get the bullpen up because things are about to fly off the rails.
Sure enough, Rob Refsnyder followed with a 2-run double into the right-centerfield gap to make it 3-0 Boston. Snell fell behind Devers 3-1 and had to throw something way too hittable. Devers smoked it 435 feet to dead centerfield, a 3-run shot and with how the Padres have been swinging the bat they had no chance of a comeback.
The only run they got came in the 3rd inning on a solo homer by Fernando Tatis Jr. over the right-centerfield wall. The Padres only had five hits. Tatis Jr. had two of them. That's simply not good enough for a lineup with as much talent as this one has.
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San Diego has lost 10 of their last 12 games and sit 20-and-25 on the year. They desperately need Joe Musgrove to beat Chris Sale on Saturday to avoid losing another series.
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