Padres' struggles at the plate continue in series-opening loss to Giants

SAN FRANCISCO - The Padres started fast for a change.

Then they fizzled.

They fell back into their habit of having a game unfold without much input from their offense.

As usual, they eventually engaged. But it was too little, too late, and they lost 3-2 to the Giants on Monday night at Oracle Park.

Jackson Merrill's home run with one out in the first inning and his single leading off the fourth inning were the Padres' only hits until Ramón Laureano homered leading off the ninth.

The only other Padres batter to reach base was Jake Cronenworth, who was hit by a pitch in the third.

Between Merrill's single and Laureano's blast, the Padres made 15 consecutive outs. They ended the game with three more in a row - a strikeout by Fernando Tatis Jr., a groundout by Merrill and a strikeout by Manny Machado.

Thus ended the Padres’ quest to add another late win. Of their 20 victories, half have have been earned with the decisive run scored in the seventh inning or later.

That is an astonishing accomplishment. And it is a perilous way to live, because it is not always going to happen.

“More times than not it probably won’t,” Xander Bogaerts said. “It’s not the way you want.”

The Giants were able to end a six-game losing streak by getting two runs in the first inning and another in the sixth. The Padres could not get a winning streak going after stopping a four-game skid on Sunday, because they could not do anything against right-hander Trevor McDonald.

In his first major league game in 2026 and his third big-league start, McDonald threw the fourth quality start in the past five games and 16th of the season against the Padres.

Only in one of his seven innings did he have to throw more than 11 pitches. Of his 81 total pitches, eight of them finished off strikeouts.

“The kid was making pitches,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “He’s throwing a little harder than what he’s doing all year. You know, his season debut, came out firing in front the home crowd. And then I think a little bit is, you know, we’ve got to fight him a little bit more. We made it a little easier on him.”

Merrill's blast to straightaway center field was the Padres' first home run in the first inning all season, and it gave them just their seventh first-inning run.

Monday was just the second time in 15 road games a Padres starting pitcher has thrown his first pitch in possession of a lead.

Randy Vásquez lost that advantage quickly by giving up a home run to just about the only Giants player not in a slump.

Casey Schmitt, who, like Merrill, was the second batter of the half-inning, sent the Giants' first home run in seven games to the left field bleachers to tie the game

Three batters later, the Padres were trailing.

Former Padres infielder Luis Arraez followed Schmitt to the plate and flared a double down the left field line. The next batter, Heliot Ramos, sent a grounder to shortstop Xander Bogaerts, whose high throw to third base made Machado's tag ineffectual, and Arraez was on third with one out.

Rafael Devers' single up the middle made it 2-1.

It was the fourth time this season a Padres pitcher allowed multiple runs in the first inning.

Vásquez, making his first career start against the Giants, got into the sixth without allowing another run.

But he could not finish that inning without Arraez and the Giants striking again in a similar manner.

Arraez led off the sixth with a double almost identical to his first one, moved to third base on a groundout and scored on Devers' fly ball to right field.

That was all it took to beat a Padres team that tied its season low in hits for the second time in five games and is now ranked 27th in the major leagues with a .230 batting average and 26th with a .680 OPS.

“We haven’t really broken through on offense,” Stammen said. “We’ve had a couple games where we looked really good, but for the most part, we’ve grinded out some games and got some wins. … But I think eventually, if we’re gonna be who we want to be - not just a good team, but a great team - we’ve got to be able to handle pitchers like that and figure out a way to put a few more runs on the board.”

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This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 9:23 PM.