Amid the Padres’ recent struggles, manager Mike Shildt was asked about the team’s injury-related challenges.
“We don’t make excuses on this team,” the manager said.
Fernando Tatis Jr. got it right, too.
He never mentioned the team’s crowded injury list while explaining how the Padres have gone from hot to cold. The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Padres 4-2 on Sunday at Petco Park, completing a three-game sweep. The Padres have lost eight of their last 11 games.
There’s no point in dwelling on the absence of Jackson Merrill, Luis Arraez and Jake Cronenworth from the starting lineup and Brandon Lockridge and Jason Heyward from the bench. The sweep the Rays completed Sunday in the East Village, their first there since 2004, could’ve been avoided if Padres starters and injury stand-ins had played better and the Rays had not pitched so well. They didn’t.
Move on to the Giants’ visit Tuesday, and continue to leave it to fans and others to complain about the injuries.
The truth of the matter is that other National League playoff contenders have been hit as hard or worse than the Padres. The Braves have shut down two frontline pitchers and are still awaiting the return of 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. The Dodgers have shelved starting pitchers Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow and lost top reliever Blake Treinen.
Arm ailments to Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez have subtracted two good starters from the Phillies.
The Padres themselves know that making excuses is a sucker’s game they shouldn’t play.
“We the guys that are hurt, and we find a way to win baseball games,” Shildt said. “If you look back to the beginning of last year, look at our record relative the rest of the league, including this year, I think you’d be pretty pleased and we’ve been able to do that, regardless of circumstances, and we’ll continue to do that.”
The Padres’ ninth-ranked player payroll, in theory, should allow them to weather health setbacks better than many of the teams they face. If that proves false, it’ll be up to president of baseball operations A.J. Preller to improve the depth. He did a great job of it last year.
With Merrill and Arraez out, bench players are getting stretched. That slims a team’s margins, magnifying details.
One detail I didn’t love Sunday was Jose Iglesias bunting a runner over in the seventh inning.
Iglesias is a better hitter than the two hitters who batting behind him on Sunday, Tyler Wade and either the No. 9 hitter Martin Maldonado or pinch-hitter Elías Díaz.
Rays lefty Mason Montgomery, brought in to open the home seventh with his team ahead by one run, had gifted the Padres a leadoff walk to pinch-hitter Connor Joe on five pitches.
My thought as Iglesias stood in: don’t give a struggling pitcher an easy out by bunting. He hasn’t shown he can throw strikes. The pressure on him had only gone up when he walked Joe.
Iglesias bunted the first pitch, which would’ve been ball one. Iglesias did his job, advancing Joe. But the next two hitters represented a dropoff on paper.
Montgomery struck out lefty Wade and reliever Edwin Uceta won the righty-righty matchup against Diaz, leaving Joe stranded.
I didn’t know enough about the Montgomery-Iglesias left-right matchup to second-guess the bunt decision — whoever made it — but was curious about it.
“You can second-guess all you want, man. That’s all right,” Shildt said, before invoking Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog, one of his mentors. “That’s one of the things that Whitey always said. It’s what makes the game great.
“Listen, go either way,” he said of the bunt. “They got the lefty on Wade. Wadey’s been swinging the bat. At that point, we love our bullpen. You know, we move the guy 90 feet. Have a chance to drive in a run. We know Uceta, who’s tough on righties, is going to come in, for Diaz. But, we’re scratching and clawing for runs, trying to look for any way we can. Iglesias has swung the bat pretty well, but we took our shot to get 90 feet and give ourselves a chance to tie a ballgame with a good bullpen.”
Uceta got three big outs in the eighth. They were instructive.
A righty-killer, he retired Padres stars Tatis and Machado. Between them was lefty Gavin Sheets, the starter in the No. 2 spot. Sheets has helped this team, and had a single that contributed to a run Sunday. If Merrill or Arraez had been in the lineup, Sheets was unlikely to bat between Tatis and Machado. Uceta got the lefty to chase a high fastball for strike three.
If there’s a benefit to the rash of injuries, it’s this: Several of the replacements will be sharper due to increased playing time, strengthening the bench once Merrill, Arraez and Cronenworth return to the lineup. Despite their April swoon, the Padres stand 17-11.
The injury profile isn’t as bad as it looks, in of the length of expected hiatuses. The Padres know it could be a lot worse. For reminders, they can check other teams’ injured lists. But that would be pointless. Injuries happen. Good organizations overcome them.
