Good morning from Miami,

Even as the Padres once again demonstrated their greatest virtue, their greatest weakness showed up.

You can read in my game story (here) about how the Padres fell behind by five runs yesterday and almost came all the way back before losing 7-6 to the Marlins.

The sole loss on their six-game road trip was completed only after an apparent home run by Ha-Seong Kim with two outs in the ninth inning was overturned.

And, yes, Dylan Cease had an off day. And so did the defense.

But those are not recurring issues.

Middle relievers surrendering crucial runs is.

The Padres were within a run, at 5-4 in yesterday’s seventh inning, when Yuki Matsui gave up a two-run homer.

The Padres relievers charged with not letting little deficits become big ones have failed time and again.

If you weren’t appreciative before this trip for what A.J. Preller was able to perpetrate at the trade deadline, you weren’t paying attention. If you’re not appreciative now, you must be a Dodgers fan.

It could be argued that as many as five of the Padres’ seven consecutive victories from Saturday to Saturday could have/would have been losses if not for Preller having acquired some combination of Jason Adam, Bryan Hoeing and Tanner Scott at the deadline.

As has been noted in this space — and by some players — the Padres would be well served to score early and/or often and not have to keep coming back to win games. Further, they have gotten just two quality starts in their past 12 games.

These tight contests are forcing their bullpen to work overtime. And the reality is, while winning four straight games by coming back in the final two innings is impressive, it is also a little bit lucky.

They won those games with big hits and a retooled bullpen, not to mention a couple fine plays by Manny Machado. But they were preilously close to losing all of them as well.

All this to say, as good as the Padres have been, they have some things to tighten up.

Update, flashback

Here is the state of the National League wild-card race:

You want another reason to appreciate what happened at the trade deadline?

You might recall it was not that long ago that a Padres team cratered at this point in the season.

Three years ago yesterday, the Padres dropped the finale of a series against the Marlins after winning the first two games. The Padres were 16 games above .500 and sat in the second of what were at the time two wild-card playoff spots, 4½ games ahead of the Reds.

What ensued was one the worst collapses in the history of Major League Baseball, as the Padres closed with a 12-34 record to finish the season 79-83. Just three times since the formation of the American Association in 1882 had a team with a winning record with 46 games to play have a worse record than the 12-34 mark the Padres posted.

There were myriad issues with that ’21 team that are not present this year.

The biggest problem — by far — that season was a lack of pitching depth. The rotation was hit by a rash of injuries, the bullpen was overworked, and the trade deadline provided no real reinforcements.

So that the Padres feel good enough about their starting rotation that they sent Randy Vásquez to Triple-A on Saturday and have the aforementioned new bullpen pieces should be the biggest comforts when pondering this season’s final 43 games.

Cease’s struggle

Cease wasn’t blaming his subpar start yesterday on his truncated start Tuesday.

After allowing the Marlins five runs (two earned) in the first two innings, Cease said he wasn’t rusty as a result of rain having cut short his start five days earlier in Pittsburgh after one inning and 14 pitches.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I got good practice in. I think it was just one of those games. … I felt good going into it. I just wasn’t quite as crisp as I have been.”

Cease ended up completing five innings without any further damage, which did allow the Padres to chip away at a fixed deficit.

Even now, Cease has a 1.33 ERA over his past seven starts (40⅔ innings).

For all his excellence, however, yesterday was not entirely an anomaly. It was the fourth start this season in which he has allowed five or more runs in five or fewer innings.

Reynolds makes it to Miami

Hoeing and Scott, who the Padres got from the Marlins on July 30, spent portions of the weekend catching up with former teammates.

Yesterday, Sean Reynolds joined them, talking and laughing before the game with Marlins coaches and former minor-league teammates.

Then he went out and faced the team that drafted him in 2016 as a first baseman and moved him to pitcher in 2021.

“The journey to get to that mound was pretty incredible and definitely not how I saw my first time pitching in that stadium unfolding,” he said.

Reynolds, who was in Triple-A when he was acquired by the Padres along with Garrett Cooper at last year’s trade deadline, made his major league debut for the Padres on July 14. He was optioned July 28 and recalled yesterday, arriving in Miami a few hours before the game.

He worked a scoreless sixth inning, stranding a runner at third by striking out the final two batters, before yielding a single at the start of the seventh and being replaced by Matsui.

Round 3?

Machado struck out to end the eighth inning in consecutive games against Aroldis Chapman last week in Pittsburgh.

The first one ended on a 105 mph sinker than Chapman threw to the inside edge of the strike zone, freezing Machado, who then shook his head and grinned as Chapman looked back at him smiling.

Manny Machado was left speechless by this Aroldis Chapman 104.7 MPH fastball 😮 pic.twitter.com/w8opxiHUIO

— MLB (@MLB) August 8, 2024

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“He dotted that 105,” Machado said before leaving Pittsburgh. “I mean, you gotta give your respect to that. I mean … there’s nothing you can do with that pitch right there.”

In their faceoff Thursday, Chapman got ahead with two splitters, one of them a called strike on a pitch up and away. Then he missed with a 101 mph sinker and Machado fouled off a 103 mph sinker before swinging over a splitter.

“That was tough (Wednesday),” Machado said. “And then he came (Thursday) and threw me a couple splits — one that was off the zone. But whatever, I’ll get my rematch next week.”

Next week is now. The Pirates are at Petco Park the next three days.

Tidbits

• Jackson Merrill was 0-for-4 yesterday, bringing an end to his hitting streak after six games. But he  reached on a fielder’s choice and scored in a seventh consecutive game.
• Luis Arraez  was 3-for-4 and has eight hits in 20 at-bats during a four-game hitting streak.
• David Peralta was 1-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. He is 7-for-16 with three doubles during a four-game hitting streak.
• A day after he stranded two inherited runners and went on to work 2⅓ scoreless innings,  Jhony Brito was optioned to Triple-A. The Padres needed to fortify the bullpen, so Reynolds was recalled.
• Joe Musgrove will make his first start since May 26 tonight. I wrote yesterday (here) about some alterations Musgrove has made in his delivery to alleviate stress on his elbow.

All right, that’s it for me. Early flight this morning and then a Musgrove Monday night.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Originally Published: August 12, 2024 at 6:30 a.m.