DETROIT — The short-handed Padres weren’t given much of a chance to win or lose Monday night.
They lost.
And who knows what they might have been able to do had Luis Arraez and/or Jake Cronenworth and/or Jackson Merrill been in the lineup rather than on the injured list?
But a 6-4 defeat at the hands of the American League Central-leading Tigers was not so much about who the Padres were not able to send to the plate so much as who they had on the mound and how he was pitching.
Randy Vásquez picked a bad time to revert to being the overwhelmed traffic cop he was for much of 2024.
“Just couldn’t get a feel for his pitches tonight, for whatever reason,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “No real rhythm to what he was doing. … Traffic early, and he just wasn’t able to get any kind of something going.”
Vásquez was charged with the same number of runs as outs he recorded. He threw almost as many balls as he did strikes. The Tigers had five hits, walked three times and Vásquez hit a batter.
A night that began with Vásquez owning a 1.74 ERA ended with him looking for the first time this season like the guy who had no idea where his well-crafted, poorly executed pitches were going and the guy who had a 4.87 ERA a year ago.
He had been averaging 15.2 pitches an inning, fewer than all but a couple dozen starting pitchers in the major leagues. He needed twice that many to get through Monday’s first inning and threw 68 pitches to 15 batters in all.
He had retired the first batter in all but four of the 21 innings he had begun this season. He did not do that in any of the three innings he began.
He had allowed two runs in an inning once and a total of five runs in his first four starts. He was charged with two runs in three different innings Monday, and he technically pitched just two innings.
“I wasn’t able to execute my pitches today,” Vásquez said. “Mostly, the biggest difference was that I didn’t attack the hitters as I’ve been doing previously. I got into a lot of long counts, a lot of base on balls, and that ultimately was what cost me.”
That is how the Padres lost in the opener of a three-game series at Comerica Park and how they fell into a three-way tie with the Dodgers and Mets for the best record (16-7) in Major League Baseball.
Now, the Padres did run into an out that ended their two-run fifth inning. And they did have a chance to give Vásquez more support early.
They loaded the bases with one out in the first inning and scored once. They had runners at first and second with no outs in the second inning and scored once.
The Tigers scored twice in both innings off Vásquez and then twice more in the third off Vásquez and Logan Gillaspie.
The Padres took a 1-0 lead on a lead-off single by Fernando Tatis Jr., a one-out walk by Manny Machado and Tirso Ornelas’ fielder’s choice grounder in the top of the first.
They trailed 2-1 by the end of the inning when a triple and two singles contributed to Vásquez throwing 30 pitches.
The Padres tied the game in the top of the second without getting a hit. Jose Iglesias was hit by a pitch at the start, Tyler Wade drew a one-out walk, both advanced on a passed ball and Iglesias ran home on a groundout by Tatis.
The Tigers also had a batter hit and advanced on a passed ball in the bottom of the second. And they got two more hits against Vasquez, who was at 57 pitches by the time the inning was over.
His day was finished when he walked the first two batters he faced in the third inning.
Gillaspie, in the bullpen ostensibly only for situations in which a starting pitcher can’t get outs, was called on for the first time in 15 days.
He got two quick outs before hitting No. 9 batter Tomás Nido and surrendering a two-run single to Gleyber Torres.
Gillaspie worked into the fifth inning before Wandy Peralta took over with two outs and a runner on first base. He and fellow left-hander Yuki Matsui held the Tigers scoreless the rest of the way.
The Padres had runners at first and second with one out in the fourth before Martín Maldonado grounded into an inning-ending double play. They finished 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and are batting .192 (10-for-52) in that situation over their past six games, during which they are 2-4.
The Padres did score twice in the fifth inning.
The first of those runs came on a one-out homer by Gavin Sheets, who finished 2-for-4 while batting in the No. 2 spot usually occupied by Arraez, who was placed on the seven-day concussion IL Monday following his collision Sunday in Houston.
Machado followed with a single, and Xander Bogaerts walked before Connor Joe’s fielder’s choice grounder moved Machdo to third. A single by Oscar Gonzalez got the Padres to 6-4. But Gonzalez was thrown out trying to advance to second when the throw from the outfield got past shortstop Trey Sweeney, and the Padres had just one baserunner over the final four innings.
“I liked our offense, like the way the guys showed up,” Shildt said. “I mean, they got after it the whole night.”
Originally Published: April 21, 2025 at 6:27 PM PDT
