The Major League (MLB) San Diego Padres struggled to escape their 3-game losing streak with Juan Soto’s final solo shot, but could not solve the ‘scoring drought’. They have produced just 4 points in their last 4 games and even if you stretch that range to their last 10 games, they are averaging just 2.3 points.
San Diego won 1-0 in a home game against the 2023 Major League Atlanta Braves held at Petco Park in San Diego, California, USA on the 20th (Korean time).
Starting pitcher Nick Martinez blocked it with 3 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts and no run in 7 innings, and Soto scored the only run in the game with a solo arch in the bottom of the 4th inning.
With this, San Diego, which broke the chain of three consecutive losses, was ranked third in the National League West Division with 9 wins and 11 losses. It narrowed the gap by 2.5 games to the Arizona Diamondbacks (11-8), which ranked first in the same district, and 0.5 games to the LA Dodgers (9-10), which ranked second.
After the game, coach Bob Melvin gave meaning to the breakout streak, saying, “I didn’t score a lot, but sometimes it’s important to win in any way.”
Still, it was an uneventful victory. Recently, the San Diego batting line has fallen to the point of despair. From the Milwaukee Brewers game on the 17th to the Atlanta game that day, he only scored 2 points in 4 games. During this period, he suffered 25 consecutive scoreless innings.
The team as a whole is sluggish. San Diego has a total of 21 hits in their last four games, but it was difficult to even score one run due to a lack of cohesiveness. There was never a timely hit when there was a runner during this period. Kim Ha-seong also suffered 5 strikeouts while only going 2 hits in 13 at-bats (0.154 batting average) in the last 4 games.
The problem is that the sluggishness of the San Diego batting line is getting longer. San Diego defeated Milwaukee 10-3 on the 16th, but scored only 11 points in 5 games from the New York Mets match on the 11th to the Milwaukee match on the 15th.
San Diego scored an average of 2.3 points in the last 10 games, and the average score in 9 games, excluding the 16th game, fell to 1.4 points.
The team batting average of San Diego, which wields a water bat, has fallen to 0.223, remaining 28th out of 30 major league teams. The total score is also 73 points, which is almost twice as high as the first place Tampa Bay Rays (133 points).
San Diego will play four consecutive away matches against Arizona from the 21st to the 24th. Depending on the result of this 4-game series, it may leap to the top of the National League West Division.
Arizona ranks 22nd in team ERA (4.96), and is a team with a lower mound height than the Mets, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, which San Diego previously faced. First though, San Diego needs to beef up his offense.
San Diego is pinning its hopes on Fernando Tatis Jr., who is returning from an 80-game suspension. Tatis Jr. missed the entire season last year, but in 2021, he drew 42 arches and became the National League home run king.
“Having Tatis Jr. back in the lineup will help,먹튀검증” said manager Melvin. Ha-seong Kim also expressed his anticipation, saying, “The team will become stronger as the key players join.”