Padres Unlucky in St. Paddy's Day Split Squad Losses

Freddy Garcia was unable to keep the Angels off the board in his start in Tempe today. He gave up six runs on six hits in five innings of work, a big step back from his last start, a one-run four-inning performance against the Giants that allowed him to stay hopeful in his quest to earn a rotation spot this season. After today, that hope has dwindled.

Everth Cabrera and Chris Denorfia teamed up to put a run on the board and give our Padres the 1-0 lead in the top of the 3rd. But in the bottom of the inning, Garcia surrendered a two-run triple to Mike Trout followed by a sac fly to Alberto Callaspo to put the Angels on top 3-1. An inning later, a two-out double to Howard Kendrick followed by a homer to Vernon Wells increased the Angels' lead to 5-1. Another two-out double to Callaspo and an RBI single to Albert Pujols made it 6-1 Angels in the 5th.

But our Padres got two runs back in the 6th with some two-out magic. Yonder Alonso worked a two-out walk and came home on a Jedd Gyorko RBI double. Then Nick Hundley followed with his own RBI double. Brad Brach took over on the mound in the bottom of the inning, but allowed a triple and a sac fly to bring another Angels run home.

Dale Thayer, Joe Thatcher, and Brad Boxberger combined for 2 scoreless innings and San Diego tried to rally in the 9th, but only came up with one run on a bases-loaded walk to Maxx Tissenbaum. The Angels came out on top with the 7-4 victory.

Our Padres squad at home in Peoria came closer to a comeback, but came up short in the end. Sean O`Sullivan was tagged for two runs (one earned) on three hits in three innings of work. In the 1st innings, he gave up a walk and back-to-back singles to give Arizona the early lead. A walk, an error by O'Sullivan, and a sac fly put the Diamondbacks up 2-0 in the 3rd.

Thad Weber came in in the 4th inning and pitched 2 2/3 frames, but allowed four earned runs on seven hits in his work. Our Padres, who had finally gotten on board in the 5th on a Travis Buck RBI single, rallied big in the 6th. Rommie Lewis, who was pitching in relief of Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin, led off the innings by giving up consecutive singles to Cody Decker, Rene Rivera, and Gregorio Petit to give San Diego a run back. After striking out Sawyer Carroll, Lewis gave up another single to Jonathan Galvez, which was good for two more runs. With two outs in the innings and Lyle Blanks at the plate, Galvez and Rico Noel pulled off a double steal. Then Blanks singled to bring them both home and tie the game.

Unfortunately, Daniel Stange and Jorge Reyes would each give up a run in the 8th and 9th innings, respectively, and our Padres were unable to put together another offensive showing as they fell to the Diamondbacks 8-6.