San Diego Padres’ latest bullpen collapse drops team back to even

The San Diego Padres bullpen failed again Wednesday, costing the team its winning record in a second straight loss to the Philadelpha Phillies.

The San Diego Padres bullpen let the team down again on Wednesday—and their latest loss to the Philadelphia Phillies particularly hurt.

The Padres dropped yesterday’s game, and the series, to Philadelphia with a final score of 7-5. San Diego had been leading 5-1 after five innings.

However, relievers surrendered five runs over two frames, giving up three in the seventh and two more in the eighth to turn what should have been a clear victory into a loss.

Trey Wingenter allowed two runs in two-thirds of an inning, before Craig Stammen replaced him and gave up another three runs and a walk. All five of the runs surrendered by San Diego’s bullpen were earned.

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Stammen was charged with both a blown save and the loss (he’s now 4-2). Closer Kirby Yates did come in to finish the game and struck out two in an easy ninth.

Losing Wednesday’s game stung on a number of levels. After easily beating Philadelphia in the series opener, San Diego gave up 16 runs in the other two games.

The loss also dropped the Padres back to the .500 mark (31-31) and they missed an opportunity to gain ground on the NL West leading Los Angeles Dodgers, after the Dodgers fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

On the offensive side of the baseball, the standout of the game was Josh Naylor, who drove in three RBIs with his one hit—because that one hit was a three-run home run off Phillies starter Jake Arrieta.

However, the San Diego Padres offense was just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base Wednesday afternoon. Manny Machado stranded five runners, three of them in scoring position, despite going 2-for-5 on the day.

If there’s a silver lining from this game, it’s that Padres starter Cal Quantrill was very good after being called up yet again to make the start. He did give up a home run to Jay Bruce (who was still a problem after mauling the Friars on Tuesday), but he struck out seven hitters and only allowed two runs in five innings.

Now San Diego needs to find a bullpen that doesn’t throw away solid starting efforts and leave the team with missed opportunities.

For complete coverage of the San Diego Padres’ 2019 season, continue following Friars on Base.