With 20 games remaining in their season, the San Diego Padres appear to be a solid bet to make the MLB playoffs. They have a three-game lead for the first wild-card spot in the National League playoffs. And they still have a chance to catch the Los Angeles Dodgersbehind in the NL West by five games.
However, if San Diego ended up missing the playoffs by one game, Thursday’s 4-3 home loss to the Detroit Tigers Maybe it’s the game that’s surrounded as the one that let him escape.
The Padres took a 3-0 lead into the ninth inning. Robert Suarez With a 1.93 ERA, 51 strikeouts in 56 innings and 31 saves, he took the mound. A series sweep seemed assured, even though the middle of the Detroit lineup was at bat in the ninth inning.
Suarez threw his first pitch into the middle of the strike zone, which Justyn-Henry Malloy lined up for a single. Backup hitter Jace Jung drew a six-pitch walk after taking the first pitch for a strike. Suarez then drew Spencer Torkelson to emerge, giving him the opportunity to get out of the round unscathed.
Unfortunately, Suarez then walked Colt Keith — again on six pitches, and again after taking the lead with a strike on the first pitch. Bases loaded, one out. Oh, oh. Yet Suarez followed by striking out the pinch hitter Kerry Carpenter with a 101 mph fastball that was outside the strike zone. Two outs.
All Suarez had to do was get Parker Meadows He was thrown out to end the game. Even if he had allowed a hit and a run or two, the Padres could have won. The third-year veteran was behind Meadows with a 3-1 count. Would he issue a walk? Still, Meadows fouled off a ball for strike two. Two outs with two strikes.
Then, with his sixth pitch of the season, Suarez left a fastball across the plate toward Meadows. It was a 101 mph pitch, but the rookie outfielder hit it to the opposite field and two rows behind the fence for a grand slam and a 4-3 lead.
The Padres still had a chance to tie or win in the bottom of the ninth inning, facing the Tigers’ bullpen. Tyler Holton — no regular closure Jason Foley. But Detroit had the ninth inning the Padres would have preferred, retiring the first two batters. San Diego put the tying run on base with a Xander Bogaerts single, giving the favorite for the title of National League rookie of the year Jackson Merrill an opportunity to boost your application for the prize.
Throwing Merrill low, Holton managed to get the Padres center fielder to fly out to center field to end the game and score San Diego with what could end up being more painful by the end of the season. By itself, losing the third game of a series after winning the first two against a .500 Tigers team doesn’t seem so bad in the grand scheme of a season. But in September, with a playoff spot on the line, it’s not a game the Padres can afford to lose.
An overreaction? Maybe that will seem like it in three weeks if the Padres are in the playoffs. But if San Diego narrowly misses the game, that ninth inning could be crucial. And it hurts.
