Fernando Tatis Jr. hit the first pitch of the game into the left field seats at Target Field on Thursday afternoon. That is exactly the kind of start the Padres have been looking for.
It's the rest of the game that was a struggle.
The Padres did not get the big hit they needed while the Twins did, giving Minnesota a come-from-behind 5-3 win and a series victory over a San Diego club that can't seem to figure out how to score runs consistently or keep other teams off the board late.
Yu Darvish started for the Friars and got into a bit of trouble in the 2nd inning. After allowing two singles and hitting a batter Darvish walked Joey Gallo to bring in a free run and tie the game 1-1. He bounced back to strike out the next two hitters he faced and, aside from a solo homer from Kyle Farmer in the 4th, was really good. So good, in fact, that it was odd when he left the game (more on that in a minute).
Juan Soto, who continues to look more and more like his future Hall of Fame self, doubled home Manny Machado. Soto had a pair of hits and that one was the only knock the Friars had with runners in scoring position. That's been a trend that has hurt them all season and it did again on Thursday.
Rougned Odor hit a solo homer, his first as a Padre, in the 5th inning to put the Friars up 3-2, and it looked like that would be good enough for Darvish. But, before the 6th inning, the Padres training staff and manager Bob Melvin went to the mound and checked on their All-Star right-hander. Yu waved them away saying he was fine, then mowed through the inning on seven pitches. Darvish had only thrown 80 pitches at that point but he didn't come out for the 7th inning. His skipper saw him shaking his arm a little bit so he made the move as a precautionary measure.
"It might be a tiny bit of tightness but I was not going to let him go out there for the 7th inning if he was feeling anything," said Bob Melvin. "He's OK. He wanted to go out there. He'll be find for his next start. I didn't want him to go out there and pitch the 7th inning if he wasn't 100%."
So, Yu was replaced by Brent Honeywell. That's when everything went sideways.
Honeywell, who has been a solid addition to the bullpen this year, got the first out of the inning before giving up a single to Gallo, hitting Ryan Jeffers with a pitch and walking Byron Buxton to load the bases. He got a soft grounder up the middle but it was not hit hard enough to turn a double play, allowing Gallo to score and tie it up 3-3. Steven Wilson replaced Honeywell to face Carlos Correa.
He did what the Padres offense could not.
Correa lined a double down the left field line to bring in two runs and put the Twins on top 5-3. It's the kind of big hit San Diego has been lacking the vast majority of the season. And what do you know, they had a chance to fix that just one inning later.
Brock Stewart walked Tatis Jr. and Soto then hit Xander Bogaerts with a pitch to load the bases with two outs and bring Trent Grisham to the plate. He struck out swinging, dropping the Padres to 1-for-7 in the game with runners in scoring position. It also puts their record back to an even .500 (19-19) on the season and is certainly not the way they want to go into a 3-game series that starts Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
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