Friday night at Petco Park was a tough one for Padres fans, as San Diego fell to the St. Louis Cardinals 6-0 in a game that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. It was a night where two things went terribly wrong: one hit and one error, and that was all it took for the Cardinals to cruise to victory.
Let's start with the play that had everyone in the ballpark scratching their heads. Fernando Tatis Jr., a two-time Platinum Glove Award winner and arguably the best right fielder in the game, committed an error that turned into a Little League grand slam. With the bases loaded in the top of the fourth, JJ Weatherholt hit a groundball to right field. Tatis Jr. charged in, trying to field it on the hop and make a quick throw to limit the damage. But the ball rolled right under his glove and kept rolling, all the way to the base of the right field wall. By the time the ball was retrieved, all four Cardinals had scored, putting St. Louis up 4-0. It was the kind of play you never expect to see from a player of Tatis Jr.'s caliber, and it raises the question: is his recent slump at the plate starting to affect his defense?
As bad as that error was, the Padres' performance at the plate was even worse. San Diego managed just one hit over nine innings. Think about that for a second. A lineup featuring Jackson Merrill, Xander Bogaerts, Manny Machado, Gavin Sheets, and Tatis Jr. in the first five spots was completely shut down. The only hit came off the bat of Merrill, a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth. That inning was the Padres' only real chance to get back in the game. After the single, Bogaerts and Machado hit back-to-back groundouts. Then Sheets and Tatis Jr. walked to load the bases, bringing Miguel Andujar to the plate. But he grounded out to end the inning, and the Cardinals' pitching took over from there, retiring the next 15 batters in order to close out the game.
On the mound, Griffin Canning took the loss, charged with six runs (only two earned) over 4.1 innings. He gave up seven hits, walked two, and struck out five. But after he exited, the bullpen did its job. Yuki Matsui, Wandy Peralta, and Ron Marinaccio combined for 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and no walks while keeping the Cardinals off the board. Unfortunately, the damage was already done.
The Padres struck out 10 times and drew just two walks, both in that fourth inning. It's the kind of game you want to forget quickly, but it also serves as a reminder that even the best teams have nights where nothing goes right. The good news? There's always tomorrow. San Diego will look to bounce back and even the series, putting this ugly loss behind them and getting back to the brand of baseball that has made them contenders.