Padres shut out for first time this season as winning streak halted by Angels

ANAHEIM - The Padres' winning was interrupted Friday night by their starting pitcher problems.

Their starters at times struggle to keep them in games, and they even more frequently struggle to get opposing starters out of games in a timely manner.

Both happened Friday, as the Angels ended the Padres' winning streak at eight games with an 8-0 victory at Angel Stadium.

“It hurts,” Padres starter Matt Waldron said after his season debut. “That was a lot of wins we had there in a row. And I’ve been looking forward to this day a long time.”

Waldron, pitching in place of the injured Nick Pivetta, was the culprit in the Angels piling up runs early.

He allowed three runs in the second inning on a home run, a hit batter and two more hits. And he was charged with three more runs in the fourth, which he departed with two outs after Nolan Schanuel punched a two-out RBI single the other way through a hole on the left side. David Morgan relieved Waldron with runners at first and second and immediately surrendered a two-run double to Jo Adell.

“A shattered bat turned into another run that turned into a couple more runs,” said Waldron, who was victimized by a broken-bat infield single with one out. “I couldn’t have been more prepared. I couldn’t have been in a better mindset. I couldn’t have done anything except for make fewer mistakes.”

José Soriano, meanwhile, fell one out shy of turning in the 11th quality start against the Padres. The 10 quality starts thrown against them this season are still the most against any team.

The Padres, by one measure, had the most successful game against Soriano this season.

Friday was the first time in his five starts he did not complete six innings. He had twice thrown six scoreless innings, gone seven scoreless in another start and allowed his only run of the season while completing eight innings in another start.

The 27-year-old right-hander entered the game with an MLB-leading 0.33 ERA, which he lowered to 0.28 by striking out eight and surviving a single and two walks in the third inning and a single and a walk in the sixth.

The Padres chased him after 99 pitches when Manny Machado singled and Xander Bogaerts walked with two outs in the sixth inning. Soriano's scoreless outing was preserved when Gavin Sheets flied out to the warning track in right field on the first pitch thrown by reliever Chase Silseth.

Sheets’ two-out double in the ninth inning gave the Padres (13-7) their only baserunner in the final three innings, and they were shut out for the first time this season.

Soriano was the seventh starting pitcher the Padres have faced this season that as of Friday night had an ERA under 3.00. There are just 39 qualifying starters with an ERA that low, and no team has faced as many of them as the Padres.

And the fact is, they have found a way to win despite the preponderance of tough matchups and despite their own starters' penchant for poor outings.

Before Friday, the Padres were 3-3 in games in which their starting pitcher was charged with at least four runs. They were 2-2 when it happened without their starting pitcher getting past the fourth inning.

While winning 11 of their previous 12 games, the Padres came back to win once after trailing 6-0 and twice after being down 4-0.

But that is no more a winning recipe than running into traffic blindfolded is the best way to cross the street.

“You’re not gonna win games like that very often,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “That’s once in a season, at most a couple times a season that that happens.”

The Padres are the only team so far in 2026 to have come back from more than two deficits as big as four runs, and they have lost a game they trailed 6-0 and another they trailed 4-0.

They were going to have to become the first team in 2026 to come back from eight runs down after Josh Lowe's two-run homer off Morgan in the fifth inning.

“We took good at-bats against Soriano,” Stammen said. “He’s just a really good pitcher. We battled him. We got him out of there before the sixth inning, which was a goal of ours - to get him out as early as we could. At that time, the score is already 8-0. So, you know, tough to hang your hat on that.”

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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 9:59 PM.