San Diego bats lack sizzle in 5-1 loss to Pirates

In his first start since throwing the first no-hitter in franchise history, Joe Musgrove struckout six batters, but allowed an early home run that helped sink the Padres 5-1 on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh.

Through four innings, Musgrove allowed four hits and walked another two. The recently-activated Pierce Johnson replaced him and struck out one while allowing another run with two walks. Austin Adams took over in the eighth but a didn’t make it out of the inning after allowing three more runs. After allowing three or less runs from over a seven-game stretch from April 2-9, the Friars have now allowed at least 4 in three of their past five, including 13 over their past two outings.

With Chris Paddack starting Thursday’s game (5.63 ERA), I don’t know if that’s what the Padres are needing right now to help get back on track.

Any game is going to become a lot harder to win if your best players aren’t contributing. Trent Grisham, Manny Machado, and Jake Cronenworth all finished with zero hits. Last night also marked Cronenworth’s first game without a hit since April 7 against the Giants. It’s still early enough in the season that you can be justified in advising everyone to continue their “wait-and-see” approach, but we’re also teetering on the edge of “maybe we can worry a little?”

Catch the Padres back in Pittsburgh early this morning at 9:35 p.m.