Insane Padres collapse vs Rockies elicits frustration with offseason moves

With a five-run lead, the San Diego Padres were six outs away from moving to 15-13 and taking three out of four from the Colorado Rockies. They were fighting off their division rivals all afternoon but finally pulled away by scoring five unanswered runs.

And then the Rockies responded with six unanswered runs and called game. It was a brutal turn of events that saw the Padres lose 10-9 just to deflate them in time for the Phillies, who have one eight of their last 10.

The Padres offense and defense showed out on Thursday. They committed no errors. They logged 11 hits and four walks. They went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position. That should've been enough, even with the rotation faltering.

But a group of offseason imports featuring Randy Vasquez (Juan Soto trade), Yuki Matsui (free agency) and Wandy Peralta (free agency) ended up burying San Diego. (And Michael King -- also from the Juan Soto trade -- did the same a couple days ago.) They combined for four innings pitched, 10 earned runs on 10 hits and four walks with just four strikeouts.

But Peralta's showing was the most unforgivable. His 0.1 innings of work resulted in four earned runs on three hits and a walk. Catcher Luis Campusano allowed a passed ball for good measure, too. Close your eyes.

Even when the Rockies cut it to 9-7 on that homer, it felt like the Padres were very much OK. The bases were clear, they still had enough of a lead to calm down and finish the job. Peralta had the No. 9 hitter coming up.

Single, walk, single, passed ball. Tie game.

OK, not the end of the world. Just get the one out and let the offense handle the rest. Nope! How about an RBI double to relinquish the lead?

Doomed. Matsui only threw 50% strikes out of his 20 pitches, and Peralta threw even fewer (11 strikes, 25 total pitches). It was the meltdown of all meltdowns. Meanwhile, Vasquez allowed runners to cross in each of the three innings he stepped on the mound for (multiple reached base in each inning, too).

AJ Preller certainly worked tirelessly to fix this ailing pitching staff after the various offseason departures, but plenty will argue he didn't get enough in return for Juan Soto and others might say he reached on paying Matsui ($28 million) and Peralta ($16 million), especially with all the concerns that were present.

Hindsight is 20/20, but these conversations very much took place, and it's imperative to keep track and hold the team's decision makers accountable for what represented a pivotal offseason to save the Padres from sinking.