San Diego Padres: Luis Perdomo Implodes After Four Innings

San Diego Padres RHP Luis Perdomo may have impressed enough in Triple-A to be called up for another start, but he hit a wall against the Dodgers.

Looking at Luis Perdomo’s stats going into this game, I was digging deep to find something impressive about him. Maybe there was something I was missing, an upside to what has mostly been an inconsistent show from the San Diego Padres young pitcher. As far as I could tell, there was no upside to his game.

His groundball rate was impressive, and it was what got him out of trouble in the first three innings but his uglier stats caught up with him by the fourth. Going into the night Perdomo’s opposing batters had a WOBA of .399 against him with a 50.7 hard hit ball percentage. That’s the highest percentage he’s posted since making his debut in 2016.

In the top of the 4th, Perdomo gave up four consecutive hits before recording his first out in the inning. Instead of pulling him, Green decided to let him work through it. The top of the 4th ended with the Dodgers up 5-0.

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Perdomo only ran into trouble again in the top of the 7th when Matt Kemp got the Dodgers on the board with a sacrifice fly. At 108 pitches and just one out, Perdomo was once again trusted to work through it. It was likely just to give the bullpen a bit more time to warm up and perhaps to avoid using them at all until the last two innings.

It’s next to impossible to come back against Clayton Kershaw, who was particularly sharp tonight. He held the Padres to just two hits over the course of eight innings. Perdomo surrendered 10.

Walker Lockett took over in the top of the 8th and decided to pick up the struggle bus right where Perdomo parked it. Giving up two hits to Andrew Toles and Chase Utley, then walking Max Muncy.  He’d give up another single to Justin Turner driving in two more runs before ending the inning. Per AJ Cassavell, Lockett’s plan didn’t land until 8:15 pm, before pitching those final two frames. While the bullpen has been taxed lately, he was probably the worst choice to try and stop the bleeding.

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Once again, the Padres offense had failed to show up. Well except for Wil Meyers of course, who has now become the third Padre in history to hit five home runs in a three-game span. Despite their very late 9th inning life, there’s no coming back to win after an eight-run deficit against the big bad boys in blue.