SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres bailed out Joe Musgrove but could do no more.
In the seventh inning, Tim Hill struck out Juan Soto but had his next pitch driven into the seats beyond left field by Josh Bell. In the eighth, Pierce Johnson allowed a run on two doubles.
That was the crux of what happened Monday night, as the Padres overcame a five-run deficit before losing 7-5 to the Washington Nationals at Petco Park.
The Padres scored three runs in the third and two in the fourth but put one runner on base over the final five innings. After Jurickson Profar’s fifth-inning walk, the final 14 Padres were retired by five Nationals relievers.
Musgrove surrendered five runs in the first two innings and then made it through five, allowing one hit to the final 11 batters he faced.
The Padres rewarded that resilience, as they did Tuesday in Cincinnati when they came back to win after Musgrove allowed four runs in the first inning and one in the third. Musgrove even got the win despite going just four innings, because rain shortened that game to five innings.
There would be no such mercy from the weather Monday, but Fernando Tatis Jr.’s home run off the third story of the Western Metal Supply building and doubles by Jake Cronenworth and Wil Myers in the fourth inning tied the game 5-5.
That was after Nationals third baseman Starlin Castro helped the Padres to three runs in the third inning when Cronenworth’s grounder went off his glove on what would have been the third out. Manny Machado’s walk and Myers’ single loaded the bases before Trent Grisham was hit by a pitch to bring home the Padres’ first run. Ha-seong Kim followed with a double just inside the third base bag that drove in Machado and Myers.
Trea Turner, the second batter of the game, launched the first pitch he saw from Musgrove into the second deck of seats beyond left field to put the Nationals up 1-0.
Musgrove, who had thrown 37 pitches in the first inning Tuesday, threw 37 in the second inning Monday, as the Nationals scored four runs on four hits, a walk, a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly.
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