Robert Suarez’s rough outing highlights Padres’ lingering bullpen concerns

Robert Suarez has been one of the league’s “lights-out” closers for the past two seasons, recording 72 saves and counting during that span. But recently, the 34-year-old has had his fair share of trouble in the ninth inning.

The Padres were knotted up at two apiece against the Cincinnati Reds on Sept. 9 heading into the ninth inning. Mason Miller had completely shut down the Reds’ lineup in the eighth inning, striking out the side. San Diego failed to answer in the bottom of the frame, so Robert Suarez entered a tie ballgame looking to keep it that way.

After retiring the first two batters, Suarez allowed a walk to Gavin Lux, which put Tyler Stephenson at the plate. On a 2–1 count, Stephenson laced a home run onto the second deck of the Western Metal Supply Building in left field, giving the Reds a 4–2 lead, which they would in fact hang on to.

While Suarez has been one of the league’s best, this is one of the few instances where he has let the game slip out of his hands. We have seen some really bad collapses from the hard-throwing right-hander in the past.

On May 12, Suarez entered in a save situation against the Los Angeles Angels. He allowed a leadoff single before walking four consecutive batters. He was then pulled from the game after recording only a single out. Right-hander Alek Jacob entered the game and gave up a grand slam to Taylor Ward; all four of those runs were charged to Suarez.

On June 14, the Padres led the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 7–3 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, as Suarez entered to shut the door. He proceeded to allow three consecutive singles to load the bases before striking out a batter. Ketel Marte then hit an infield single, which scored the run from third, and a Geraldo Perdomo triple tied the game. The winning run was scored off Adrian Morejon, but it was charged to Suarez, as the Diamondbacks overcame a four-run deficit to win 8–7.

What we are getting at here is that Suarez has been lockdown all year, but there are the occasional blowup games that could haunt the team come playoff time. There is belief that he can turn it around, but the ninth inning needs to be way cleaner going forward.