Updated
San Diego, CA
San Diego finds slug, drops finale in Mexico
It felt like the San Diego Padres’ game all day, in large part, because it was.
Michael King twirled six innings of two-run ball, sporting eight strikeouts and only one walk. He exited the game with a 7-2 lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was over in a hurry.
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The Padres’ bullpen (uncharacteristically) gave up the game in a loud way. David Morgan and Bradgley Rodriguez combined to give up six runs — including a Tim Tawa grand slam — in the bottom of the seventh before Ron Marinaccio and Wandy Peralta gave up four more runs in the eighth to give the D-backs a five-run cushion.
San Diego tried to come back multiple times but couldn’t answer once, ending in a disappointing loss after what had started off as a promising game. Three home runs, two from Manny Machado and the other from Luis Campusano, had buoyed the Friars for most of the game until the relief blowup.
On most days, if the Friars scored seven runs before turning it over to the bullpen, there’d be no worry of giving the game up. But yesterday that was not to be.
The hard truth for the Friar Faithful is there will be games like this. It’s not an indictment on the bullpen, it’s just a long, long, season and leads will be blown sometimes — no matter how good the club is.
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That being said, San Diego will return home tonight hoping to best the similarly-hot Chicago Cubs. Their offense will be back in the pitcher-friendly confines of Petco Park so they’ll need to bet on a bounce back performance from the relief corps.
Taking the mound
Matthew Boyd (CHC) v. Randy Vásquez (SD)
That being said, Boyd (although feared in the past) has not been pitching like himself lately. He gave up six runs in his first start of the season before being placed on the injured list for two weeks. He’s been better since returning but still sports a 5.79 ERA on the year.
Boyd has also yet to go a full six innings in a game (5 2/3 at most). That’s good news for the Friars, who will hope to get to the Chicago bullpen quickly. They’ve been mostly solid but have struggled to a 3.95 ERA to start the year, and are without closer Daniel Palencia.
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Vásquez, on the other hand, has been San Diego’s ace to open the season. He’s tallied a 1.88 ERA and 1.08 WHIP to go with 30 strikeouts across 28 2/3 innings. He’s been a beast on the mound for the Padres and has only given up more than one run once.
Helping Vásquez significantly is his history facing Chicago. The righty owns a .194 opponent batting average against the Cubs’ lineup. If he can limit them similarly (like he’s done to opponents all season), Vásquez will have no problem tonight.
Batter up!
After some early tweaking by manager Craig Stammen, the lineup has been more or less set lately. It seems likely that continues tonight against Boyd, looking something like this:
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I’m hoping that Song makes his debut at the plate tonight. It’s possible that he debuts in a pinch-hit opportunity or DH-ing) as opposed to starting the game at second. But it seems possible he takes the start over Jake Cronenworth after Cronenworth’s slow offensive start to the season.
Tatis is still searching for his first homer of the year. It has been — by far — his longest drought without one. Hopefully he’ll hit one while being cheered on by the Friar Faithful tonight.
Relief corps
Like I said, the San Diego bullpen looked rough yesterday. But that’s hardly an indication of a downhill turn for the group. They’ve been dominant this year, ranking third in the majors with a 3.03 ERA.
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The high-leverage guys (Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller) have continued to be dominant — showing no signs of stopping. Miller took the franchise record for scoreless innings pitched this weekend and will look to extend it tonight if San Diego has a lead in the ninth.
Behind those three is Kyle Hart, who will surely be first out of the ‘pen if Vásquez doesn’t perform as well as he typically does. Hart can cover several innings well for the Friars with his history as a starter, though he hopefully won’t need to so long as Vásquez pitches a gem.
Why this matters
Located in neighborhoods across the county, community gardens seek to provide resources and educational opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Fund more community guides across San Diego.
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Tucked into neighborhoods, schoolyards and park edges, community gardens have woven themselves into the fabric of San Diego.
Many are established in food deserts – areas that lack access to affordable and nutritious food. For predominantly low-income and racially diverse communities, a local garden plot can be the difference between having fresh produce or none at all.
Beyond the food, community gardens have become gathering places where social bonds across generations and languages form and environmental education can flourish. From elementary school students to senior citizens, people of all ages are able to tend to plants or participate in community activities hosted onsite.
San Diego County has more than 80 community gardens, according to the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County. Most of them are managed by churches, nonprofits or local volunteers.
However, funding may be running short. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act led the county to cancel contracts related to CalFresh Healthy Living in October 2025, as previously reported by inewsource. Community gardens were one of the lifestyle programs impacted by these cuts.
Nonprofit leaders have also sounded the alarm about federal cuts causing funding instability that could impact their community programs.
But there are still ways for the community to get involved. Here’s a map maintained by the Master Gardener Association that shows dozens of gardens around the county.
inewsource asked Heather Holland, president of the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County, and Julia Rauner Guerrero, the organization’s community garden chair, to talk about the basics of community gardens.
Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Community gardens vary based on who owns the land but most gardens are spaces where renters of the garden beds have access during set hours. Most gardens have events or times where they open their doors to the public.
Community gardens are spaces where the public can garden or learn about gardening together. There are a few categories of community gardens that could be grouped this way:
- Gardens that include beds or spaces that can be rented for growing.
- Gardens that grow food that is donated to others.
- Gardens that act as learning spaces so the public can learn how to garden together.
- Semi-public spaces where someone from an area (as in a resident of an HOA) can garden in a space.
Most of San Diego’s community gardens fall into one of those categories and often include several of these characteristics. On our community garden map we’ve focused on gardens with individual or shared/cooperative plots, some of which also incorporate education and/or food sharing with the community.
No, generally there isn’t any registration with the county and the cities operate under different rules. Community gardens located on public land have different approaches dictated by their city. For example, in the city of San Diego nonprofit groups can apply to the city to use parks and recreation land for a community garden.
Community gardens are operated by a mix of persons depending on who is running the site. In most cases it is a church, a nonprofit or a group of volunteers who manage the space. A few San Diego cities such as Imperial Beach, Carlsbad and La Mesa oversee their gardens and in other cases the County of San Diego directly operates the community gardens on their property.
Volunteer at your nearby community garden to get a feel for the garden, the people and the management.
Type of Content
Explainer: Provides context or background, definition and detail on a specific topic.
San Diego, CA
Where to watch San Diego Padres vs Seattle Mariners: TV channel, start time, streaming for May 16
What to know about MLB’s ABS robot umpire strike zone system
MLB launches ABS challenge system as players test robot umpire calls in a groundbreaking season.
Baseball is back and finding what channel your favorite team is playing on has become a little bit more confusing since MLB announced plans to produce and distribute broadcasts for nearly a third of the league.
We’re here to help. Here’s everything you need to know Saturday as the San Diego Padres visit the Seattle Mariners.
See USA TODAY’s sortable MLB schedule to filter by team or division.
What time is San Diego Padres vs Seattle Mariners?
First pitch between the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, May 16.
How to watch San Diego Padres vs Seattle Mariners on Saturday
All times Eastern and accurate as of Saturday, May 16, 2026, at 6:32 a.m.
- Matchup: SD at SEA
- Date: Saturday, May 16
- Time: 7:15 p.m. (ET)
- Venue: T-Mobile Park
- Location: Seattle, Washington
- TV: FOX
- Streaming: MLB.TV on Fubo
Watch MLB all season long with Fubo
MLB regional blackout restrictions apply
MLB scores, results
MLB scores for May 16 games are available on usatoday.com . Here’s how to access today’s results:
See scores, results for all of today’s games.
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