SAN DIEGO — There are a few rivalry matchups in the NL this week, including the Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates but the big one is between the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.
Both teams were riding high heading into their big four-game showdown. The Giants had just swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in convincing fashion in Dodger Stadium over the weekend and leapfrogged into second place in the NL West, while the Padres had won two of three from the best team in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays.
On Monday night, the Giants were triumphant in the first matchup of the series despite Juan Soto hitting two home runs, winning the game on a walk-off, extra innings home run by Mike Yastrzemski.
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Javier Reyes of the Locked On Padres podcast discussed the Padres' latest loss and wondered if manager Bob Melvin is holding the Padres back.
The game's big story was the Padres heading into the bottom of the ninth with a 4-2 lead and Luis Garcia on the mound. Reyes said, “Bob Melvin came under fire last night (Monday) from a lot of people, not just Padres fans. The media asked him, ‘Why was Luis Garcia put in that situation?’”
Garcia’s ninth inning was eventful. He started things off with a walk to Blake Sabol, who ended up on third after a Mike Yastrzemski single and scored on a Garcia wild pitch to Luis Matos, which cut the lead to 4-3. Matos ended up flying out, but Garcia walked J.D. Davis and Melvin had to pull him from the game. Reliever Drew Carlton came in and gave up a sacrifice fly to Patrick Bailey, and the game was tied.
Reyes wondered why Garcia didn’t have a shorter leash and why Melvin hesitated before taking him out, but after the game, Melvin said this about Garcia, “We’re trying to get Garcίa going. We’re trying to give him a chance. It hasn’t worked to this point. We definitely need another guy down there, another righty. We’re using the same two guys in Wilson and Martinez. It just hasn’t happened.”
Garcia didn’t speak to the media after his performance.
After Carlton loaded the bases with back-to-back walks, Ray Kerr came into the game and struck out Joc Pederson to send the game into extra innings, but Kerr gave up the walk-off three-run shot to Yastrzemski.
Reyes looked at Garcia’s numbers from last season, which showed that his ERA was nearly a run higher than his expected ERA and that maybe he had some bad luck in 2022. But Reyes added that in 2023, at 36 years old, Garcia’s numbers have dipped and that maybe this is just what you’re going to get from him going forward. Garcia is 1-3 in 24 games with a 6.00 ERA. He was also the Padres’ setup man for the past two seasons, but with both Josh Hader and Nick Martinez being unavailable, Garcia was thrust into the closer’s role on Monday, and it didn’t work out.
Reyes didn’t blame Melvin completely for Monday’s outcome. He blamed the offense for not being able to score any runs after the fifth inning and for being 1-7 with runners in scoring position—a problem they’ve had all season so far.
So, while it’s not entirely Bob Melvin’s fault that the Padres dropped the first of four big games against the Giants, he may have to share some of the blame for his decision-making.
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