Padres Hitting Bottom in Loss to Mariners

The Padres continue to fall to the bottom of the standings and in a hurry. Tuesday they lost 16-4 to the Mariners and had to bring in two infielders to pitch in relief.

The Padres have now lost eight of their last ten, four straight and since starting the Giants series two weeks ago have fallen all the way down to 10.5 games out of first place in the NL West.

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There are ugly games, and then there are ugly games. Tuesday was the latter, as James Shields damaged his own trade value by failing to go three innings and allowing 10 runs in the process. His ERA jumped to 4.28 and his record fell to 2-7 on the season.

The Padres did manage to hit three home runs in the game. Matt Kemp hit his 13th, Travis Jankowski got his first of the season, and third string catcher Hector Sanchez hit his first of the year as well.

Luis Perdomo continues to be the relief pitcher punching bag for the Padres, relieving Shields in the third and marching through two innings. He allowed six more runs in the process and got his ERA back up over 10 after some success in recent outings had brought it down.

In the 8th inning Manager Andy Green brought in Christian Bethancourt to get two outs, but after walking two Alexi Amarista was called upon to get the final out. No runs were allowed.

It has certainly been a case of May Gray for the Padres, whose only silver lining can be that the calendar will flip to June tomorrow and perhaps a fresh start for the team to change fortunes.

Optimism is fading fast for this Padres team, as now even the starting pitching is starting to get rocked. Drew Pomeranz was hit hard his last start, now Shields, and Cesar Vargas who has pitched a few gems but gotten no run support is also showing signs of failing to adjust as he faces more teams.

Next: Padres Exploring James Shield Trade - Should They?

The MLB Amateur Draft is approaching on June 9th, and with that comes hope for the future as the Padres hold a slew of first round picks (6 of the first 85) but those picks take time. The selling point they can make to fans is that recent top picks like Cory Spangenberg, Austin Hedges and Hunter Renfroe are at or near the Major League level and rebuilding their farm system can help bring in impact players come July.

However, the Padres fan base saw GM A.J. Preller try that route last season without success. The organization might be wary to try again and instead build the team more organically. In the meantime we see infielders have more success on the mound than Rule 5 Draft Picks and the offense looking worse by the day.