The Padres find an embarrassing new way to lose
The San Diego Padres aren’t a good team. This isn’t a secret or a surprise. Coming into play Monday night, they were sitting in last place in the mediocre NL West and by the end of play Monday night, they’d hit a new low.
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Let’s set the scene: It’s 0-0 in the bottom of the ninth at AT&T Park, where the Padres were hanging tough against the first-place San Francisco Giants. The Giants, hoping for a walk-off win, had Brandon Belt on first base with two outs. Hunter Pence came in to pinch hit and looped a fly ball to right field.
As it hung in the air and right fielder Matt Kemp and second baseman Alexi Amarista tried to get into position, what was about to happen became obvious: The Padres were totally going to blow this. And they did. Neither Kemp nor Amarista could make the catch. Kemp got turned around, eventually letting the ball drop and kicking it around the outfield. Belt, meanwhile, just kept on running and scored all the way from first.
It wasn’t pretty at all for the Padres and after the game Kemp took the blame:
The bumbling of the fly ball put a bow on what was a stellar night for Giants starter Johnny Cueto. He finished the top of the ninth hoping the Giants could eek out of a run in the bottom of the inning. When they did, he notched a two-hit shutout and his second straight complete game. Cueto struck out six batters and didn’t walk anyone, improving to 7-1 on the season with a 2.38 ERA.
[Elsewhere: Clayton Kershaw is so good right now it’s ridiculous]
The Padres, meanwhile, wasted another good start from Drew Pomeranz, who pitched seven shutout innings, only allowing two hits himself. He struck out four and walked four, improving his ERA to 1.70. On any other night, that would be reason to celebrate. But the Padres’ offense and defense failed them Monday and what lingered was the taste of an embarrassing walk-off loss.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
