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In what was supposed to be a happy day for Padres fans quickly soured as Dinelson Lamet’s long-awaited return to the lineup was cut short after he left Wednesday’s game early with tightness in his forearm after just two innings and 29 total pitches thrown. He still finished with four strikeouts, but the fan base will once again spend today holding their breath until we get some news regarding the beloved pitcher.
The Padres ended up falling for the third time to the Brewers by a score of 4-2. They held leads 1-0 and 2-1 in the thrid and fourth innings, respectively, but the Brewers talented bullpen continued to keep the Friar bats down bad.
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 21, 2021
San Diego was swept for the first time this season, bringing their overall record to .500 at 10-10. They also managed to score just three runs in as many games, further casting doubt on this team’s ability to overcome their obvious hitting issues. An injured Fernando Tatis Jr. is surely not helping, but an underwhelming season thus far for Tommy Pham is also cramping the vibe quite a bit.
Last year’s team could pop off at any moment in any game. The hitting was so hot that it didn’t matter that the team couldn’t pitch, they continually beat opponent’s through scoring runs, alone. Now, after upgrading the rotation by leaps and bounds, they lost the other part that made this team a playoff contender in 2020.
The Padres scored their runs on Wednesday via a Trent Grisham RBI single and a grounder by Victor Caratini that pushed Jurickson Profar over the plate. On the other side, Milwaukee got another notable performance from second baseman Jace Peterson who homered for the second time this series and finished with a pair of RBIs.
As far as yesterday went, the Padres finished went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. The Brewers, on the hand hand, finished 2-for-6.
Where the clutch batting went with this team, I’m not so sure.
Still, it’s a long season. Many believed last year’s abbreviated campaign was going to be a good thing for a young Padres team and it was. Now, with a long and arduous season back in front of them, this team is struggling to bring the same spark of energy on a night-by-night basis.
Something has to give here soon, and it’s tough knowing that it’s likely not coming this second series against the Dodgers.
It’s another late start tonight at 7:20 p.m. Ryan Weathers (1-0, .093 ERA) is getting the start on the mound as he’ll face Walker Buehler (1-0, 2.00 ERA).