SAN DIEGO — Dinelson Lamet walked off the field Tuesday after a second scoreless inning, fist-bumped manager Jayce Tingler with his glove at the top step of the dugout and did not return to the mound.
No need to panic this time.
This was the plan, as was having Ryan Weathers follow Lamet in the rookie left-hander’s return from the “joint inflammation” in the back of his elbow, although it was noticeable that Lamet’s velocity dropped from a peak 97 mph in his first inning to as low as 91 in the second.
Lamet did not strike out anyone. He did not walk anyone. Nor was there any especially hard contact on any of the four singles he yielded in the Padres’ 2-1 loss to the Pirates at Petco Park.
He threw 21 of his 30 pitches for strikes, including 11 sliders.
Before the game, Tingler politely declined to telegraph the plan for Lamet to the Pirates.
At least beyond the obvious.
“Go out and battle and pitch well,” Tingler said. “Equally important, it would be a huge win to pitch well and come out healthy and continue to build off that.”
Lamet looked like he was doing just that April 21 — his first start since his elbow injury forced him off the mound in last September’s playoff tune-up — when he struck out four of the eight batters he faced over two scoreless innings.
The sight of Craig Stammen warming up in the bottom of the second inning, though, was the first sign that something was amiss.
Lamet’s forearm had tightened up. He went back onto the injured list almost immediately, although it wasn’t long before the organization determined the setback was a minor hiccup and not necessarily a recurrence of the injury that ultimately required platelet-rich plasma therapy over the off-season.
An ultrasound followed but not an MRI. Lamet might have returned as soon as Sunday had neck soreness not popped up in the interim.
That box was checked off Tuesday morning when the Padres declared Lamet good to go for his second start of the season.
But a short start.
His seventh pitch, a four-seamer, hit 97 mph. Two softly hit fly balls fell in front of left fielder Jurickson Profar before a weak groundball got Lamet out of the first inning. He gave up two more hits in the second inning as his fastball sat 91-94 mph — he hit 98 mph in his first start off the injured list — but two heads-up defensive plays by Ha-seong Kim, filling in on a day off for shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., helped Lamet out of the inning.
Five more fastballs — 91 to 94 mph — to pitcher Mitch Keller (5 2/3 IP, 0 ER) ended Lamet’s evening with a weak groundout to third.
Of course, how Lamet felt after the game and when he wakes up Wednesday morning is as important as anything, but moving past the anxiety that comes with a return from injury is also significant as he looks to put his forearm issues behind him.
“I certainly think that’s a component for a lot of guys coming back from injury — the health, the confidence,” Tingler said. “You can do all the drills, you can do all the exercises, all the treatment. At the end of the day, getting out there with the adrenaline facing major league hitters, you almost have to do it after going through those other things to deep down feel 100%.”
Weathers seemingly passed his test, too, despite allowing back-to-back doubles to Adam Frazier and Bryan Reynolds to start the third inning for the Pirates’ first run in 12 innings at Petco Park. He scattered two other hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out one over three innings as his velocity rebounded into the 93-94 mph range.
Six days earlier, Weathers’ first sinker clocked in at 88 mph, a drop-off that prompted a mound visit and ultimately an exit after one inning with arm soreness.
The Pirates added a run off Keone Kela in the sixth inning. The Padres’ offense was limited to Austin Nola’s run-scoring single in the seventh inning, just their third run in their first 18 innings in this series against the NL Central’s last-place team.
Beyond Lamet and Weathers, right-hander Chris Paddack, on the injured list with a “medical condition,” is said to be feeling well, potentially giving the Padres six starting pitching options.
The depth will be needed before long.
The Padres are off Thursday and again the following Thursday before playing 20 straight games.
To the extent that Weathers will continue to be available out of the bullpen, Tingler was not ready to say one way or another before Tuesday’s game. Other options in the near- and long-term include Miguel Diaz, who was optioned to the alternate site to make room for Lamet’s return, and top prospect MacKenzie Gore, who could force his way into the picture before too long now that Triple-A El Paso is beginning its season this week.
“We’re looking for innings and quality innings right now,” Tingler said. “We’re pretty open-ended on a lot of those scenarios.”
The priority, of course, is the right-hander that finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting last year.
The Padres have built up Lamet methodically since spring training, purposely holding him back to ensure he’s healthy and aimed at finishing the season in October.
It’s time to see where he is, little by little if needed.
“Because he’s fully built up we’ve tried to check all the boxes to make sure he was covered as far as getting ready and not rushed at all and really took a lot of time and care trying to get him through this,” Padres pitching coach Larry Rothschild said last week. “There’s no longer a rehab process for this. We’ve done, and he’s done, everything he can possibly do. We’ve got to see now, let’s get after it and see what happens.”
