Chris Paddack was not particularly bad on Sunday, at least not meltdown bad as he’d been last week in what was supposed to be his regular-season tune-up. He was not hit especially hard, either. He was just off in his 2021 debut, as he’d been throughout much of last season.
It’s still a problem.
Stumbling out of the gates, Paddack scatter-shot his fastball, did not throw a curveball, issued a free pass to the pitcher and even whiffed while trying to field a pop-up in foul territory in a 3-1 loss that spoiled the Padres’ push for their first 4-0 start since 1984.
That team played in the franchise’s first World Series.
This one — which at least enjoyed Fernando Tatis Jr.'s first homer of the season — has the same end goal, one that will be easier met if the Padres can line up enough quality starters behind aces Yu Darvish and Blake Snell.
While neither of them completed five innings the first go-round, Joe Musgrove breezed through his initial test on Saturday night.
Adrián Morejón steps onto the mound for the first time Monday.
Meantime, Paddack continues to miss the bar he set so high as the NL’s rookie of the month in April 2019.
He needed 89 pitches to get through four innings: 56 four-seamers, 33 change-ups and not a single curveball. He walked three batters — including Diamondbacks reliever-turned-starter Taylor Widener on five pitches — and two of them crossed the plate.
Ketel Marte walked with one out in the first inning and scored on David Peralta’s two-run triple, a ground ball that slipped inside the first-base line and rattled around in the corner in right field.
The leadoff walk to Josh Rojas in the third inning scored on the first of Tatis’ two errors, a low throw trying to complete an inning-ending double play.
Instead, the ball skipped away from Eric Hosmer, allowing the Diamondbacks to take a 3-0 lead in the third inning.
The pop-up that Paddack misplayed in the first inning after Peralta’s two-run triple did not add to Arizona’s ledger, only a pitch count that stood at 28 after the first inning.
Widener, by contrast, needed only five pitches — all strikes — to sit down the Padres in order in the first inning. He finished with five strikeouts over six scoreless innings, scattering three hits and three walks in handing the Padres their first loss of the season.
The best chance to get to Arizona’s starter disappeared as fast as it materialized.
Hosmer roped a 110-mph double to right to start the second and Tommy Pham followed with a single only to see Wil Myers strike out looking at three fastballs at the bottom of the zone.
The ensuing swinging strikeout of Luis Campusano wasn’t as problematic as Pham swiping second base on the pitch. With runners on second and third, Arizona manager Torey Lovullo intentionally walked eight-hole hitter Jurickson Profar to load the bases for Paddack.
Widener sat him down looking at a 94 mph fastball off the edge of the plate.
Arizona’s starting pitcher went on to allow only one other hit over the next five innings and five Arizona relievers combined on the final three innings, although not without drama.
Kevin Ginkel struck out Campusano looking on three pitches with runners on the corners to end the eighth.
Chris Devenski allowed Tatis’ solo homer with two outs in the ninth before a replay review upheld the out call on Jake Cronenworth’s attempt to beat out an infield single, ending the game.
