Padres fall 5 games out of wild card race

On July 20th, the Padres played the second of three games against the Chicago cubs. After dropping today’s game, the Padres are now 1-7, since coming out of the All-Star break. Their surge that closed out the first half of the season had San Diego in the wildcard conversation, but with their recent struggles, they have fallen to 5 games back from a wildcard spot and are now last in the National League West.

Although San Diego has been struggling to come away with a win lately, they have been battling until the very last inning. Each of the last four games have been decided by one run. Today Joey Lucchesi got the start and the Cubs jumped all over him early. Lucchesi gave up 10 hits and 6 runs in his 4.1 innings of work. Matt Strahm came in gave up the Cubs’ only other hit of the night, and Trey Wingenter retired all 6 batters he faced to finish out the game.

Offensively, San Diego did everything they could to stay in the game, scoring 5 runs off 9 hits but still came up just shy of what they needed. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the top of the 3^rd with a solo homer to center field, followed by a double off the bat of Manuel Margot. Next up Manny Machado went deep with a two-run shot to right center. That home run marked Machado’s 25^th of the season. The next inning Luis Urias scored off a sacrifice fly by Tatis Jr., giving the Padres their second short lived lead of the game. In the 5^th inning Hunter Renfroe hit his 28^th home run of the season and brought the Padres back within one run. Unfortunately, that was the last run the Padres would plate today.

Final score: Cubs 6-5