WASHINGTON – There would be no regrets on Sunday.
The Padres scored five runs in the first inning, added on in both the second and third and then settled into an 8-1 rout of the Nationals that completed a series win.
That was the Padres’ response to knowing they had blown it the night before.
They had played well but hit poorly in a 4-2 loss on Saturday, a season-long theme they emerged from the All-Star break focused on changing.
Failure to come through in prime scoring opportunities, they know, can end up being the difference between making the postseason and a long winter.
On Friday afternoon, fresh from a quick trip to his home in Aruba, Xander Bogaerts was talking about the Padres’ abundance of games decided by one or two runs.
He said: “The close ones you lose, those are the ones in the end, if you lose by a game or two, you’re like, ‘(Expletive).’ You know?”
Bogaerts and several other Padres players do. They were part of the team that lost 42 games by two or fewer runs in 2023 and ultimately fell two game shy of a playoff berth in arguably the most disappointing season in franchise history.
Bogaerts’ grand slam in the first inning got the Padres on their way Sunday, as they sent nine batters to the plate and made Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore, fresh off his first All-Star game, throw 37 pitches.
Another run in the second on a two-out walk by Manny Machado, single by Bogaerts and single by Gavin Sheets made it 6-0, as Gore threw 31 more pitches.
Jackson Rutledge was warming up as the third inning began.
Cronenworth’s second double of the game greeted Gore, and Elias Díaz’s two-run homer made it 8-0 and ended Gore’s day.
Rutledge, whose 6.80 ERA was second-worst among 170 qualifying relievers this season, ended up throwing 3⅔ scoreless innings.
The Nationals’ lone run came on San Diego native Riley Adams’ fifth-inning home run off Nick Pivetta, who tied a career high with his 10th victory over the season.
Pivetta (10-2, 2.81) spread three hits and a walk over six innings in his team-leading 12th quality start of the season.
Afterward, he was able to say something that has not been merited all that often this season.
“Hats off to the hitters,” Pivetta said. “Bogey grand slam in the first and then continuing to tack on runs against a good pitcher who has pitched really well this year. … I was able to get a good lead and then just be able to attack the strike zone, get ahead of guys and just try to get them to put in the ball to play and get back in the dugout as soon as I can.
The Padres entered the game having not scored more than six runs in a game since June 14. They scored seven on Friday, including five in the ninth inning, before losing Saturday.
The loss in the series’ middle game was their 36th time scoring two or fewer runs in a game, sixth most in the major leagues but three more than any other team with a winning record. They are 11-25 in such games, which has the double-edged distinction of being the second-best record in the major leagues when scoring one or two runs in a game but also 14 games under .500.
Saturday’s loss was also their 21st by two or fewer runs.
Their 34-21 record in games decided by such a slim margin is third-best in the majors. But the fact that more than 60% of their victories have required their bullpen to protect such slim margins is considered unsustainable.
They made sure that was not an issue Sunday.
“Having those guys in the bullpen, in the back end — those guys throw every day,” Bogaerts said of the Padres’ high-leverage relievers. “We tend to normally have close games. Having a big one, a wide margin, it was for those guys to just sit back and relax.”
Bogaerts’ grand slam, the Padres’ of the series and second of the season, followed walks by Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado sandwiched around a single by Luis Arraez to start the game.
“He came out a little wild,” Bogaerts said of Gore. “We took advantage of it.”
One-out doubles by Jose Iglesias and Jake Cronenworth made it 5-0.
It was the Padres’ first five-run first inning since May 10 in Colorado and their five-run inning of the series.
They had scored that at least that many runs in an inning once in the 42 games leading up to this weekend after doing so five times in their first 54 games.
“It says a lot about the guys,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “The guys show up every day, but rain delay last night, guys battle their tails off, played excellent defense, took a lot of tough at bats. … Didn’t cash in that big hit. Came up short. And this is how guys respond. Show up today. … And it means ‘OK, we’ve got to go figure this out.’ And guys showed up with the proper amount of get- after-it kind of attitude.”
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