SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres got about all they could rightly ask for or ever expected from Jake Arrieta on Friday night.
But they could not capitalize on myriad opportunities to score or keep the Houston Astros from hitting the ball out of the park.
Kyle Tucker’s two-out home run in the eighth inning, which followed Alex Bregman’s single at the end of a nine-pitch at-bat against Emilio Pagan, gave the Astros a lead they held to the end of a 6-3 victory at Petco Park.
The loss kept the Padres a half-game behind the Cincinnati Reds in the chase for the National League’s second wild-card spot.
The Padres were 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and less than two outs, went 2-for-9 overall with runners in scoring position and stranded three runners on third base after they had reached that spot with one out.
The final failure came in the seventh inning with the game tied 3-3. After Adam Frazier and Manny Machado, who had both walked, executed a double steal with one out, Jake Cronenworth struck out. Wil Myers then drew a walk to load the bases before Eric Hosmer struck out.
While the night did not end particularly well for Arrieta, he went five innings for the first time in seven starts.
A 429-foot three-run homer by Carlos Correa with two outs in the fourth inning marred an otherwise excellent night for the 35-year-old right-hander, giving the Astros a 3-1 lead.
Ha-seong Kim led off the bottom of the third with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Arrieta and scored when Machado beat out a slow roller to shortstop for an infield single.
The Padres got another run in the fifth inning when Trent Grisham singled and scored from first base on Tommy Pham’s pinch-hit double. Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded out and Machado flied out to strand Pham.
They tied the game when Myers drew a one-out walk in the sixth, went to second on a single Hosmer bunted to shortstop and Austin Nola rolled a grounder off the end of his bat just inside first base and into right field to score Myers.
The Astros added a run in the ninth off Daniel Hudson on a ball that bounced off Hosmer’s glove and was ruled an RBI single.
The Padres ultimately wasted Arrieta’s best outing since the middle of June, something a team in their position cannot afford to do very often, if at all.
The first hit Arrieta allowed was with two outs in the third inning to Astros pitcher Jose Urquidy. The next was a lead-off single in the fourth by Michael Brantley that every well could have been an out. Brantley hit a hard liner to right field that Kim, the second baseman playing deep in the shift, ran to grab on one hop. But Hosmer, playing deep in the dirt, was late getting to the bag and took the on-time throw from Kim a step away from the base.
After getting the first out of the inning, Arrieta walked Tucker and got Yuri Gurriel on a line drive to center field before Correa hit the ball beyond the center-field wall.
Arrieta entered the night having allowed at least one run in 17 of the previous 21 innings he had pitched. That included five runs in 3 1/3 innings in his Padres debut on Aug. 18, two days after he was signed. He left that start with a strained left hamstring and was just activated off the injured list Friday.
He was released by the Cubs on Aug. 12 after allowing eight runs in four innings the day before and compiling a 6.88 ERA in 20 starts.
The Padres signing the 2015 NL Cy Young winner was essentially an act of desperation. Yu Darvish and Chris Paddack were on the injured list, and the Padres were running down their bullpen.
With Darvish and Paddack healthy and multiple off days coming up, having Arrieta start Friday was among the more curious paths the team’s decision makers took recently.
Manager Jayce Tingler confirmed Friday the Padres will go through the rotation during this homestand — with Joe Musgrove and Paddack the next two days and Blake Snell and Darvish starting against the Angels on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Musgrove has been the Padres’ most consistent starter this season and almost undeniably their best over the past six weeks. Snell just finished off an August in which he posted a 1.72 ERA in six starts. Paddack has allowed four runs in his past three starts (15 2/3 innings).
The Padres debated not activating Arrieta until next week’s series in San Francisco. With two days off during this five-game homestand (Monday and Thursday), they could have gone with Musgrove, Paddack and Snell this weekend and brought back Musgrove on Thursday against the Angels after Darvish pitched Wednesday.
But despite Musgrove having last pitched the previous Friday in Anaheim, the Padres wanted to give him and Snell more rest. Musgrove threw 111 pitches in a shutout of the Angels, and Snell threw 107 pitches Tuesday in Arizona.
Said Tingler: “We’re going to be lined up after the Anaheim series to really be able to — bearing good health and all those things — be able to roll those guys out there, the ones that have been consistent and have been performing.”
The Padres tentatively plan to start Musgrove next Friday against the Los Angeles Dodgers with Paddack and Snell to follow. After Darvish pitches the opener the following Monday (Sept. 13) in San Francisco, Arrieta would start again.
With 10 games in 10 days on that trip to Los Angeles San Francisco and St. Louis, Arrieta’s turn would come up again on the final day of the trip.
