Padres unable to drive in runners early, lose series opener to Phillies

The Padres played into a cliché on Monday.

They had an excellent starting pitcher on the ropes and let him stay upright and punch his way through six innings.

Worse, that helped turn Griffin Canning into a loser.

Canning was masterful for almost all of seven innings, allowing two hits to Kyle Schwarber and one to Brandon Marsh.

In direct contrast to what the Padres did, the Phillies made all those hits count.

Schwarber's home run in the first inning and Marsh's two-run homer in the seventh were all the Phillies needed in a 3-0 victory over the suddenly un-clutch Padres.

The Padres, who loaded the bases against Jesus Luzardo before an out was made in the first inning and failed to score not just in that inning but in all six that Luzardo pitched, were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

“We’re doing everything right except that big hit,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “We’re just missing it right now, and we’re not quite punching through when we need to. The season has its ebbs and flows, the roller-coaster ride of good and bad, and right now we’re just not able to come through in that big moment. But you know, those times are coming.”

When Tuesday's game begins, the Padres will be looking for their first hit with a runner in scoring position since the eighth inning of Friday's game against the Athletics, a span of 25 at-bats in that circumstance.

“Just didn’t come through,” Xander Bogaerts said. “It has happened a little bit more often, maybe, this year early on. But tomorrow is a new day.”

The Padres are 31-22, good enough to sit in the top wild-card spot in the National League on Memorial Day. The holiday is considered a mile marker for the MLB season, and nearly 90% of teams that have been in playoff position on the final Monday of May the past four seasons (since the playoffs were expanded to six teams per league) have ended up in the postseason.

“We’re nine games over .500,” Bogaerts said. “Try to keep that pace up. We’re not going to win every game, so come back tomorrow and try again.”

The real shame of it Monday was wasting a quality start from Canning. For most of the day, the wily right-hander was even better than just quality.

“He pitched great today,” Stammen said. “Outside of two pitches he’d probably like to have back, he did exactly what we needed today.”

Before Marsh sent a too-high 2-0 slider to the seats in right field with two outs in the seventh, Canning had almost thrown a perfect game against every Phillies batter except Schwarber.

The MLB-leading 21st home run by Schwarber came on a changeup at the bottom of the zone on the eighth pitch he saw.

“I don’t think it was the worst pitch … but he’s obviously a really good hitter,” Canning said. “I think just a longer AB, so he had a chance to see more pitches that particular at-bat. He’s great hitter; put a good swing on a good pitch.”

Between the two home runs, Canning allowed a single (to Schwarber leading off the seventh) and walked two batters (Schwarber in the fourth and Bryce Harper in the seventh).

With Schwarber and Harper on base, Canning got his second double-play grounder of the day before Marsh went deep. Canning then walked Bryson Stott and was replaced by Jeremiah Estrada.

Yuki Matsui worked two scoreless innings at the end to give the Padres a chance for another comeback. But they did not put up much of a fight after the fifth inning.

What happened to that point was practically enough to assure their defeat.

One of the oldest clichés in baseball holds that your best chance to get to a good starting pitcher is early. And Luzardo is among the best in the major leagues this season. He entered the game with a 4.85 ERA. But he had the 10th-lowest FIP (2.85) and 18th-lowest expected ERA (3.21) in the major leagues, metrics that suggest he has been unlucky.

They had the leadoff man on in the first three innings. They had the first three batters reach base in the first inning and their first two batters reach base in the third. They had runners at first and second with one out in the fifth.

The Padres loaded the bases in the first inning on an infield single by Fernando Tatis Jr., Miguel Andujar's single to center field and a groundball by Bogaerts that Phillies shortstop Trea Turner muffed.

The failure to score came on strikeouts by Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill and a fly ball by Nick Castellanos.

After Tatis singled and Andujar walked to start the third inning, Bogaerts grounded out and Machado grounded into a double play.

Rodolfo Durán was hit by a pitch and Tatis walked with one out in the fifth before Andujar popped out and Bogaerts flied out to the gap in left field.

“We had him in three innings,” Machado said. “We just didn’t capitalize on that.”

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This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 6:13 PM.