Good morning from Arlington, Texas,

A lot of good things have happened for the Padres inside Globe Life Field.

Nothing good happened there for them last night except this magnificent double play turned by  Jake Cronenworth and Ha-Seong Kim.

That was one heck of a double play pic.twitter.com/pnke8y32DA

— Talking Friars (@TalkingFriars) July 3, 2024

Last night’s loss to the Rangers wasn’t quite the level of disappointment as going three-and-out in the 2020 National League Division Series, which was held here in a playoff “bubble” due to COVID.

But what did go down last night signaled an alarm once again about one of the issues the Padres must rectify if they want to get back to the postseason.

“Starting pitching is pretty critical to success consistently in this league, for sure,” Mike Shildt said.

That was after he professed confidence Dylan Cease will be “fine.”

Cease has demonstrated the ability to be far better than fine over long stretches. He has also been one of the main perpetrators of something that has plagued the Padres this season.

Cease allowed five runs in the first three innings and six runs in all before leaving with two outs in the fourth last night.

It was the third time in his past nine starts Cease has allowed at least four runs in the first four innings of a game and the 14th time this season a Padres starter has done so.

You can read in my game story (here) about the Padres’ 7-0 loss to the Rangers, which ended a record streak.

The Padres had beaten the Rangers 11 straight games — the longest winning streak against any opponent in Padres history and the longest losing streak against any opponent in Rangers history.

It was quite an eventful run.

It began back on Sept. 16, 2018, when Andy Green was manager, in a game in which Jurickson Profar made the final out for the Rangers and Travis Jankowski (now a Ranger) scored the tying run for the Padres in the ninth inning and Kirby Yates (now a Ranger) got the win.

It featured the start of Slam Diego, Fernando Tatis Jr. accelerating the shredding of baseball’s unwritten rules and Joe Musgrove’s no-hitter.

Cease seems to have no-hit stuff sometimes. His previous start, June 26 against the Nationals, was his second this season in which he allowed one hit over seven scoreless innings.

But of his team-leading nine quality starts, just three have come in his past 10 starts.

Cease continues to maintain, as he did after his previous two starts, that he feels good about his pitches.

“It’s not necessarily the pitches,” he said. “It’s just how they’re being used and how they’re not being used. I’m falling behind. I’m not putting them in the right spot. And it’s really giving them a chance. … I feel like I’ve been kind of on the up and up with my execution. I like where I’m at. Today was just bad. I really don’t feel discouraged. I just feel like I had a bad game.”

A change

I wrote (here) after his last start about how Cease’s changeup was starting to become a viable pitch.

He threw his first one last night for a strike that seemed to baffle Nathaniel Lowe. That put Cease ahead 0-2 before Lowe got to 2-2 and then bashed a changeup left just above the zone for a home run.

Of the 246 times he had two strikes against a batter this season and 554 two-strike pitches he had made, Cease had thrown his changeup just three times before the one Lowe sent to the seats beyond right field.

“For the most part, if I get it in the zone, good things happen,” Cease said. “But he got it today.”

Cease did not throw another changeup last night.

Tidbits

• You can read in my pregame notebook (here) about Xander Bogaerts’ pending rehab assignment, why Manny Machado was serving as designated hitter again, Kim’s increased selectivity and Eguy Rosario’s push to play in the outfield.
• Tatis is in San Diego resting and receiving treatment for the stress reaction in his right femur. Shildt said yesterday that Tatis told him he is no longer experiencing pain when walking.
• Randy Vásquez, who left his start Friday in Boston after being hit on the arm by a line drive, played catch Tuesday. Shildt said he is on track to pitch Friday or Saturday.
• The Padres had gone 34 games without being shut out, which was the sixth-longest active streak in the majors.
• The two hits the Padres had last night tied a season low set June 15 against the Mets.
• Hitting streaks for Jurickson Profar (13) and Kim (nine) ended last night. Profar’s on-base streak, which at 21 games was tied for longest in the major leagues, also ended.
• The Padres have not walked the past two games, the first time they have gone without a walk in successive games since April 21 and 23, 2019.
• The eight extra-base hits (six doubles, two home runs) allowed by Padres pitchers last night tied for most they have given up this season. Cease allowed two of the homers and three of the doubles.

All right, that’s it for me.

I wrung what I could from yesterday’s onion.

Talk to you tomorrow.