Xander Bogaerts stays hot, rest of Padres cold in loss to Cubs
Xander Bogaerts lingered at home plate, watching a high drive to left field in the second inning bend toward the foul line. The ball stayed fair long enough to drop into the third level of the Western Metal Supply Co. building for his team-leading fifth home run.
The rest of the Padres' stars were MIA on Tuesday, but the Padres' shortstop is confident that won't be the case for long.
Calf cramping forced Manny Machado to the bench, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill were both hitless and the supporting cast around Bogaerts didn't do nearly enough in an 8-3 loss to the Cubs in front of a sellout crowd of 40,106 at Petco Park.
"We have guys that just have been very unlucky," Bogaerts said. "I hate talking about that, because I don’t like lining out and getting robbed. It sucks. There are guys going through that right now. At some point it’s going to turn and it’s going to be nice, for sure."
Machado was beginning to heat up after two homers on Sunday in Mexico City and a three-hit game on Monday before his exit after six innings in the series opener. He is day-to-day and could return to the lineup as soon as Wednesday.
Meantime, Tatis is somehow still searching for his first home run of the season despite leading the majors in hard-hit rate and Merrill began Tuesday looking for his first extra-base hit in 10 games.
Of the team's four highest-paid players, Bogaerts has been the most consistent throughout the team's 19-10 start to the season.
He is hitting .286/.364/.448 to start his fourth year in San Diego and had a .901 OPS over his last six games before lofting a second-inning homer into third deck of the Western Metal Supply Co. building to shave the Cubs' lead to 2-1.
Bogaerts didn't hit his first home run last year until April 29 and didn't get his fifth until June 29.
"I see a very confident player right now," said Padres bench coach Randy Knorr, who managed the latter innings because Craig Stammen departed to catch a flight to attend a funeral. "He’s in a great place. (Hitting coach Steven Souza Jr.) and Xander have done a lot of work to get to where they’re at now, and he’s just staying with it. He’s working hard every day, and it’s starting to show."
Two innings after his home run, Bogaerts was twice rung up by looking by plate umpire Dan Bellino only to have ABS challenges overturn the calls. Bogaerts ultimately walked, swiped second base and tied the game at 2-2 on Ty France's single to center.
"It’s so nice," Bogaerts said of his ABS challenges. "I got a walk. I would have struck out. … I love it."
Luis Campusano's two-out single in the sixth plated the Padres' third run, but left-hander Hoby Milner replaced Edward Cabrera and struck out switch-hitter Bryce Johnson with runners on first and third as the Cubs' bullpen blanked the Padres over the final 3⅓ innings.
Padres right-hander Walker Buehler battled command throughout his start, throwing nearly as many balls (44) as strikes (48) before he was pulled one out shy of completing the fifth inning.
He even recorded the first two outs of the fifth before allowing a single to Seiya Suzuki and hitting Ian Happ with a knuckle curve that bounced in the dirt, forcing Stammen to bring in left-hander Kyle Hart to face the left-handed-hitting Michael Busch.
Hart struck out Busch to close the book on Buehler, but the left-hander allowed a walk and a hit in the sixth and both runners scored on Nico Hoerner's double off reliever David Morgan.
Left-hander Wandy Peralta allowed an inherited run from Morgan to score in the seventh inning before serving up a three-run homer to Pete Crow-Armstrong as the Cubs opened an 8-3 lead.
Buehler struck out four and allowed two runs on three hits and three walks in 4⅔ innings, with the only damage crossing the plate in the second inning on Dansby Swanson's double to left-center.
That hit, naturally, followed free passes to Happ and Busch to start the inning. Swanson exited the game after the inning with a left glute cramp after Buehler stranded him at third base to keep the Padres' deficit manageable at 2-0.
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This story was originally published April 28, 2026 at 9:59 PM.