Padres Offense And Defense Horrible In Shutout Loss

Apr 26, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Nationals shortstop

(20) steals second base in front of San Diego Padres shortstop

(2) during the seventh inning at Nationals Park. The Nationals won 4-0. Mandatory Credit:

-USA TODAY Sports

Someone watching the San Diego Padres offense this season might feel that they have been transported back to the Deadball Era of the early Twentieth Century when hitting was limited to singles and pitching was dominant. The offense has failed to score more than four runs in twelve consecutive games while only scoring one run in the last eighteen innings. In addition to the struggling offense, the defense committed  a season high three errors in the 4-0 shutout loss to the Washington Nationals Saturday afternoon.

Nationals starter Tanner Roark (2-0, 2.76 ERA) pitched his first complete game shutout of his career allowing three hits and striking out eight.  The Padres offense is nothing short of Triple-A at this point of the season. Not to take anything away from Roark’s dominant performance from the start of the game to the end, he had the Padres off balance with his change-up throughout the entire game.

The Padres continually fail to get runners on base and move them around when they do.  Roark retired his first sixteen batters before his perfect game was ruined in the sixth inning on a single by Rene Rivera. Following Rivera’s hit,  they managed only two singles.

Following a humiliating 11-1 loss to Stephen Strasburg the previous night, the Padres carried it over into the next day.  Padres ace Andrew Cashner (2-3, 2.68 ERA) pitched good enough to win Saturday, but he was plagued by three errors and would-be fourth that was scored an actual hit off the bat of Nationals Jayson Werth.

Cashner’s last two starts on the current road trip has not been as sharp but he continues to give the club a chance to win. However, when the the team has a collective batting average of .221, it is difficult for any MLB team to win consistently.

The Padres have lost five of their last seven games and look to even the series with the Nationals tomorrow afternoon when Ian Kennedy (1-3, 3.60 ERA) takes the mound against Nationals Taylor Jordan (0-3, 6.23 ERA).