Padres Daily: How could they lose that game? Why is Grisham left out?

Good morning,

Blake Snell kept progressing. The Padres offense regressed.

Or it settled back into what it is.

Either way, it is troubling.

Last night went from possibly perfectly historic to almost hopeless in a matter of minutes.

The crowd was on its feet anticipating Snell’s 12^th strikeout and seventh hitless inning. It was electric inside Petco Park. Instead, Snell issued his second walk of the inning before the next batter, Jo Adell, singled to break up the no-hitter with a two-run single.

Jeff Sanders’ game story (here) explains what happened in the Angels’ 4-0 victory and what Snell and Jayce Tingler said about it.

Here’s one thing Tingler said:

“It’s got be a collective effort. … Right now, (Snell) is doing his job and more. As a group we’ve got to pick it up, especially when he’s throwing the ball that way. Those have to be wins.”

It is possible the man who works so hard to say nothing has not said anything truer this season.

You have read in this newsletter at times this season that, essentially, losses happen. This is baseball. The unpredictability is why they play so many games in a season.

The problem for the Padres is that they have all but exhausted their do-overs.

They have given away too many games already. They can’t afford to get shut out on two hits over five innings by Packy Naughton at this point. The rookie left-hander was pitching in his fourth big-league game and in his only previous start had allowed the Yankees three runs in 3 2/3 innings.

The Padres then managed one hit in two innings against Jimmy Herget, who entered the game with a 7.11 ERA in 32 1/3 innings and was designated for assignment last month by the Texas Rangers before signing with the Angels on Aug. 16.

After the Padres let those seven innings go, it really wasn’t a surprise they went down quickly against quality veteran relievers Steve Cishek and Raisel Iglesias.

Is any of it a surprise at this point?

Chew on the reality of this:

The Padres have scored no more than three runs in any of those four games.

Let’s take it back a little further. Snell has a 1.85 ERA over his past seven starts. The Padres are 3-4 in those games.

Last night was the fifth time this season the Padres lost a game in which their starter allowed two or fewer runs in seven or more innings. Snell started two of those games, Yu Darvish two and Joe Musgrove one.

The Padres are 13-5 in such games. The Dodgers are 24-4. The Giants are 19-2.

The Padres’ starting pitching as a whole hasn’t gone deep enough in games until recently and went through extended rough stretches this summer. But even through most of the last of those skids, it was apparent what the real problem was — that the Padres cannot score enough consistently enough.

They have scored one run over the past 17 innings.

Last night was the fourth time in their past 23 games the Padres have been shut out. They have been shut out eight times this season. That is the same number of shutouts they suffered in 2019 and four fewer than they had in 2018.

They have 24 games remaining, so there is time to match that.

Grisham left out?

Trent Grisham is a player the Padres would like to keep around for even longer than the four remaining seasons he is under team control. They broached the subject with the 24-year-old center fielder before this season. They likely will talk about a long-term deal again before next season.

So maybe this all turns out swell.

For now, though, Grisham is being used as a platoon player when his performance certainly does not merit his being one.

It’s not difficult to interpret that he doesn’t seem thrilled.

The insertion of Fernando Tatis Jr. in the outfield has often meant left fielder Tommy Pham is missing from the starting lineup lately. Corner outfielder Wil Myers has also had to sit at times. There simply isn’t enough room for all the team’s outfielders. Jake Marisnick has started six games and played seven other innings since being acquired in a trade on July 30.

But the most surprising alteration to the starting lineup has been Grisham sitting against left-handed starting pitchers, as he did last night for the fifth time in six such games. This comes after he started the first 15 games 21 of the first 25 games for which he was healthy against left-handed starters.

Grisham bats left-handed, but he has better numbers against left-handers than he does against righties.

(baseball-reference)

It’s not like he has fallen off recently. He has eight hits in his past 24 at-bats against lefties.

For the season, Grisham is batting .253/.343/.433 after enduring a slump last month and going 8-for-29 (.276) with four walks over his past nine games.

Here was Tingler’s response when I asked if this is just how it’s going to be from now on:

“I think there’s going to be days where Grish is going to be starting and playing again against lefties. I think tonight, I like the way Pham has been swinging it. … and Wil has certainly been one of our most consistent players certainly since (before) the All-Star break. So it’s not necessarily the way we’re going to go each and every time. There’ll be some different factors (going) into it.”

More than a player’s splits go into whether he plays all the time against left- or right-handed pitchers. It can be the type of pitcher. A hitter might struggle against hard throwers or certain pitches. That is not the case with Grisham. Nor is it the case that he was being held out against lefties while emerging from that slump, which lasted a dozen or so games in August. His swing doesn’t change against left-handers. He sees them extremely well.

The real factor is the overcrowding of the outfield.

“You’re talking to the wrong person,” Grisham said.

Questioned further, he simply said, “No comment.”

There is a chance the outfield logjam could be temporarily alleviated. Tatis could play a certain other position for at least a few games.

Tidbits

• Emilio Pagán has allowed a home run in four of his past 10 games, including a leadoff homer in the ninth inning last night. Pagán has allowed at least one run in 15 of his 59 appearances this season. In nine of those appearances, he has allowed at least one homer.

• Craig Stammen stranded the runner he inherited in scoring position and got the final out of the eighth inning. He has now worked nine consecutive scoreless outings (11 1/3 innings).

• Manny Machado has hit safely in a season-high 10 games. He is batting .341 (14-for-41) during the streak.

• Jake Cronenworth was 2-for-4 last night and is 5-for-11 in the past three games. Cronenworth endured one of his worst slumps of the season before this mini streak, going 3-for-36 in nine games.

All right, that’s it for me.

Talk to you tomorrow.