Good morning,

The Padres are doing OK.

But they are also just trying to hang on.

A 7-5 loss to the Diamondbacks in 10 innings last night was nothing to be alarmed about — in a vacuum.

Said Jake Cronenworth: “We’re not going to let a game where we lose by two runs and had bases loaded in the 10th get us down.”

That is an entirely legitimate sentiment when a team has won 12 of its past 16 games and has played the kind of baseball the Padres have through much of this season (and especially lately).

You can read in my game story (here) how the Padres came back from down 4-1 in the seventh inning before losing for the first time in four extra-inning games.

They came oh-so-close to coming back again in the 10th and winning for the seventh time this season in a game in which they trailed in the eighth inning or later.

“We played until the last pitch and put ourselves in a position to win the game,” Cronenworth said. “Happened (Friday) night. Didn’t happen (last) night.”

But with 69 games to go, this situation cannot be assessed in a vacuum.

Thus, there was no masking the fact the loss — ostensibly at the hands of Wandy Peralta in the 10th inning — also accentuated what many around the league have been saying for weeks.

The Padres’ top priority approaching the July 30 trade deadline is acquiring a high-leverage reliever. Or two.

The Padres are certainly seeking starting pitching. Yu Darvish is out for the foreseeable future (more on that later), and Joe Musgrove is likely not coming back for at least another month. Additionally, they have to make sure to not wear down Michael King in his first year as a full-time starter.

But the price being asked for even average starting pitchers is extremely high, and while it remains likely the Padres add a starter, the back end is where they keep getting kicked.

Last night’s game was at least partially lost 24 hours earlier when Enyel De Los Santos could not close out a five-run lead in the ninth inning and closer Robert Suarez had to come in for a third consecutive day.

This has been a recurring theme. Just since May 31, Suarez has been called on three times in the middle of the ninth inning to take over for a reliever who allowed a not-so-close game to become close and has had to “get hot” in at least three other games when a non-save situation threatened to become one. (This is in addition to the times he has been called on in the eighth inning because another reliever was not getting the job done.)

Last night, with Suarez unavailable, manager Mike Shildt had to try to milk extra outs from starter Matt Waldron and then went to Yuki Matsui with a man on in the seventh inning when he likely would have called on Adrián Morejón in that situation .

Matsui allowed an inherited runner plus a runner of his own to score. Then, after the Padres came back and Jeremiah Estrada and Morejón worked scoreless innings, Peralta allowed three runs in the 10th.

This is clearly a different team than the one that underachieved from the start last season, and it feels like a different team than the one that collapsed in 2021.

But a bullpen that has at times been overworked because starters have run into trouble is far too shaky to feel comfortable.

Darvish out indefinitely

Darvish was placed on the restricted list yesterday, and it is not known whether he will return this season.

You can read the news and what Shildt said before the game (the only public comments about the situation) in Jeff Sanders’ pregame story (here).

In short, Darvish is not being paid while he attends to a personal matter.

Details are minimal, but sources said that there is a legitimate chance Darvish returns this season. There is also a very real chance he does not.

Those sources said there is not a legal issue, as is often the case when a player is placed on the restricted list. This is a matter involving Darvish’s family, and it will be up to Darvish when he returns.

What should be considered is that Darvish is an honorable man. And while a team has to request that a player be placed on the restricted list, it would make sense that Darvish did not fight to be paid while he steps away from the team to focus on what he feels he needs to focus on.

Waldron battles

Waldron threw more pitches in the second inning last night than any Padres starter did this season.

And no one was warming up in the bullpen.

The Padres do believe Waldron is somewhat suited to endure such an inning based on the fact his primary pitch is a knuckleball. Moreover, last night the reality was that they simply didn’t have the capability to cover seven-plus innings with their bullpen.

Waldron rewarded Shildt by not taking more than 15 pitches to get through any of the next four innings. He was at 53 pitches through two innings and threw exactly that many pitches when he was pulled with a man and nobody out in the seventh inning.

“I just started to pitch to more contact and avoiding the strikeouts,” Waldron said. “… Just give my team the best chance to win, get deep into the game.”

Even after going back out for the seventh, allowing a single and having that runner (plus one more) score, Waldron did give the Padres a chance to win.

As for whether he can throw more pitches than many other starters due to his throwing a knuckleball, that is up for debate. He doesn’t throw a soft knuckleball.

“I’m trying to throw that pitch hard,” Waldron said. “Whether it’s a four-seam, slider, my effort level is very intense no matter what the pitch is.”

Why?

A follow-up regarding what I meant when I said this year’s Padres seem different than the 2021 team.

Mainly, I meant the evidence suggests the ‘24 version is better equipped to withstand the hits it is taking (and may yet take).

The Padres were 16 games above .500 on June 30, 2021. They won nine straight in the middle May, and an eight-game win streak in June included a three-game sweep of the Dodgers.

But that was a star-driven team. Fernando Tatis Jr. already had 26 home runs to that point (82 games). Machado had 12. Tatis has 14 this season. Machado had seven through 82 games and has 12 now (93 games).

It is still unlikely this year’s club could withstand the pitching attrition the ‘21 team did. (Musgrove was the only starting pitcher to make it through the season entirely healthy, though Darvish did make 30 starts.)

However, the entirety of the roster — especially on offense — is better in ‘24.

It is obvious how important Manny Machado is. He is batting .369 with a 1.077 OPS during their current 12-4 run, which is typical of when he gets on one of his hot streaks.

However, I wrote in the newsletter last month (here) and in a story at the end of May (here) about the depth that is not only improved for the Padres but is better than other teams that have numerous star (highly compensated) players.

By way of updating that assertion, let’s compare the Yankees and Padres since May 26.

On May 25, after beating the Padres the previous two days, the Yankees were 37-17. They have gone 18-19 since.

The Padres, who were 27-28 on May 25, have gone 22-16 since.

Here is a look at how the Yankees’ Big Three has performed versus the rest of the players on their roster in that span:

And here is how the Padres’ Big Three has performed versus the rest of their roster (the Padres have been without Tatis the past 14 games due to a stress reaction in his right femur and have not had Xander Bogaerts since May 20 due to a fracture in his left shoulder):

Quite a turnaround

Remember when it seemed like every time the Padres scored, an opponent would score in the next half-inning?

Through June 1, opponents had answered Padres’ runs 14 times while the Padres had done that to their opponents just seven times.

In the 32 games since, the Padres have answered back 19 times to opponents’ 12 times. After doing so twice last night, the Padres have pulled even at 26-26 in answer-back innings this season.

Tidbits

• The Padres batted .226 against left-handed pitchers through their first 77 games. They are batting .310 against lefties over their past 16 games.
• Matsui’s 12-game (12 innings) scoreless streak ended last night.
• Ha-Seong Kim had his second three-hit game of the season and first since March 31. He is batting .304 (14-for-46) with a .353 on-base percentage over his past 13 games.
• Donovan Solano doubled in his final two at-bats last night, his second time with two doubles in the past three games. Both doubles last night came with two strikes, and his .323 batting average (31-for-96) with two strikes this season is highest in the majors among those with more than 12 at-bats that have gone to two strikes.
• The Padres (3-1) were the last team in the majors to lose in extra innings this season.
• Last night’s game lasted three hours, 33 minutes. The Padres’ only longer game this season was their 15-11 victory over the Dodgers in the second game in Seoul, South Korea, on March 21. (That was a nine-inning game.)

All right, that’s it for me.

Early game today (1:10 p.m. PT).

Talk to you tomorrow.