In a tight playoff race there's dangerously little wiggle room. So, the Padres having to play three games in Denver with the Phillies and Brewers breathing down their neck in the National League Wild Card hunt is not exactly great timing.
The Friars came in losers of 13 of their last 15 games at Coors Field. That string of futility was extended in a 4-3, extra innings loss to the Rockies on Friday night.
Sean Manaea was, once again, shaky as a starter. The lefty gave up three runs in 3.2 innings but the San Diego bullpen didn't let it get out of hand at altitude. Steven Wilson, Pierce Johnson, Luis Garcia, Robert Suarez and Josh Hader held the Rockies at bay through the 9th inning. Usually keeping Colorado to three runs is enough to get a win at Coors Field.
But for whatever reason the Padres bats are perplexed at that ballpark. They got two in the 2nd inning on an RBI groundout by Juan Soto and an RBI single from Manny Machado but didn't score again until the 8th when Soto unloaded on a mammoth home run to centerfield. He's back to being the guy the Padres traded for with another two-hit night. But, now nobody else in the lineup is doing anything.
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San Diego had just three other hits, all of them singles, and left six runners on base. That lack of punch finally got them in the 10th inning. Adrian Morejon gave up a walk-off single to Alan Trejo to put the Friars in a bad spot. The Phillies and Brewers both won, sliding San Diego a half game behind Philadelphia for the 5th Wild Card spot and just two games ahead of Milwaukee for the National League's final post-season berth.
The Friars could really use a win on Saturday and have the right guy on the mound with Yu Darvish running up against Chad Kuhl.
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