DENVER — In the aftermath of the Padres’ 3-0 loss to the Rockies at Coors Field on Friday night, manager Mike Shildt said that regardless of what time of the season, this game would be a tough one to swallow.
Those Dodgers lost again on Friday night, falling for the sixth time in seven games. But the Padres, who entered the day two games behind Los Angeles, couldn’t capitalize.
So, what is happening with the Padres? What has caused them to go from the high of catching the defending World Series champs in the standings to the low of Friday night, when they were shut out by a club that entered the day 62 games below .500?
“I don’t know,” said third baseman Manny Machado. “I would love to know the answer to that question.”
Machado has been here before. As have the Padres. In years past, they have alternated between thrilling and underwhelming, electric and seemingly listless. And the same can be said of 2025.
Friday fell under the “underwhelming and listless” category.
Rockies starter Kyle Freeland, who entered the contest with a 5.41 ERA and on the heels of being ejected two batters into the game on Tuesday after a benches-clearing incident against the Giants, stifled San Diego for eight innings, yielding just two baserunners and striking out a career-high-tying 10 batters.
While the Padres came to town hoping the starting rotation would turn things around after posting a 7.52 ERA over the previous nine games, little did they know that their problem wouldn’t be starting pitching on this night at the most hitter-friendly venue in the Majors.
Starter Nick Pivetta, who had a 17.36 ERA in four previous starts at Coors, gave up two runs over six strong innings, scattering seven hits while walking two and striking out five.
But the lineup was a virtual no-show.
“The discouraging part was the lack of in-game adjustments,” Shildt said. “ … We just didn’t make the adjustments necessary to be able to get more consistent traffic, consistent at-bats and be able to do anything to shorten [Freeland’s] outing.”
Over the Padres’ four-game skid, they’ve averaged three runs and their offensive futility at Coors on Friday was something not seen in nearly eight years — the previous time San Diego was shut out on three or fewer hits in this ballpark was Sept. 16, 2017.
It’s an alarming trend in the midst of the home stretch of the regular season, one that would be much more costly had the Dodgers not been in a rut themselves.
With 21 games to go, the Padres — stocked with talent that includes a potent lineup when it’s firing on all cylinders and one of the best and deepest bullpens in the game — are searching for answers with little time to find them.
They hope they’ll be the thrilling, electric ballclub that has at times been one of the most exciting in the game. But that will require fuel for a fire that appears to be smoldering.
“I mean, how can you have energy if you can’t even make it to first base?” said Fernando Tatis Jr. in reference to how the lineup looked Friday. “So I don’t think we’re lacking energy. The boys are trying to play their best, and that’s just part of the game. Some people like it, some [might] not.
“But when you’re on the field every day and when you play baseball for a long season, teams are going to go through that stretch, and it’s just baseball.”
It is, indeed. But the timing isn’t great.
If there is to be a turnaround, it’ll have to start immediately. The remaining schedule helps — 15 of the Padres’ remaining 21 games are against teams currently below .500, and after leaving Colorado on Sunday, 13 of their final 19 will be at Petco Park, where they’re 43-25.
“They’re all playoff games to me and us,” Shildt said. “Of course they’re more magnified this time of year. We’ll turn it around. We just will. And I’ve got complete confidence in that clubhouse.”
What Shildt said next is perhaps the only way to make the current perplexing stretch a moot point.
“Actions have got to start speaking louder than words.”
