The San Diego Padres on Wednesday night reached their latest low point of the 2023 season. Their 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Seattle Mariners completed the sweep and handed the Padres their fourth straight loss. They're now five games under .500, 4 1/2 games out of the final National League wild-card spot, and behind four teams in the chase for that spot. Suffice it to say, that's not how things were supposed to be for the team with a star-laden roster and the highest payroll of any MLB team not located in New York.
The circumstances of Wednesday's loss likely make it even more frustrating for the Padres. Yu Darvish twirled six innings without allowing an earned run, and the Pads seized an early 1-0 lead against Emerson Hancock, who was making his big-league debut for the Mariners. After that, though, the Pads' bats were quieted -- they managed just four hits off Hancock and a parade of four relievers. The score was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth until San Diego reliever Steven Wilson misplaced a full-count slider to Cal Raleigh:
That 450-foot blast gave the Mariners a 3-1 lead, and that lead would grow to 6-1 before the end of the frame. That was also the final score.
Afterward, one of those aforementioned stars on the San Diego roster, Juan Soto, was unable to conceal his mounting frustration. Soto told reporters, including Kevin Acee:
"We've got to play as a team. We've got to go out there grind every day. Grind every at-bat. ... It's been really inconsistent. Some days we do, some days we don't. We gotta do it every day. Days like this series, we just give up. Like literally, we just give up instead of keep grinding, keep pushing. We've got to forget about yesterday and keep moving."
There's ample reason to believe the Padres are a much better team than the current standings would suggest, but they're running out of time to find that true level. The longer they continue to fall shy of expectations, the more you're going to hear those almost palpably frustrated words coming from the mouths of team members.
