Darvish offers as Padres’ brass ponders Deadline course

SAN DIEGO — Whatever path the Padres had been going to chart on the Trade Deadline, this a lot has appeared clear for some time: They had been going to take their time.

Either course — shopping for or promoting — comes with critical implications for the franchise in 2023 and past. There was no motive to hurry issues. The Padres wished to assemble as a lot data as attainable earlier than they dedicated, a method or one other.

So whereas commerce season kicked off in earnest a number of days in the past, the Padres have, to date, remained idle. In the meantime, a weekend sequence towards the first-place Rangers supplied one remaining likelihood for the crew to stake its declare as consumers earlier than the Deadline on Tuesday.

Two video games gained’t outweigh the earlier 103. But the Padres are making an announcement. For a second straight night time, San Diego dispatched Texas, this time a 4-0 victory Saturday at Petco Park. After dropping two of three to the Pirates earlier this week, it’s been fairly a response towards the AL West leaders.

“As hard as some of these [losses] have been, some of these series have been, we’ve always responded,” Padres supervisor Bob Melvin mentioned. “Now, we haven’t responded with a huge winning streak. But we’ve always put those in the rearview mirror, come out with the odds against us, with some momentum against us, and put together some good games.”

Like these previous two. Yu Darvish pitched six scoreless innings (an evening after Joe Musgrove did the identical). Ha-Seong Kim and Luis Campusano each had a pair of hits. Again, the Padres seemed just like the playoff contender they nonetheless consider themselves to be.

And but, their actuality isn’t so rosy. Sure, the Padres have performed like contenders often. They haven’t executed it practically sufficient. With two video games to play earlier than the Trade Deadline, they discover themselves three video games under .500 and 5 1/2 video games again within the National League Wild Card race, needing to leap three groups for a playoff spot.

That’s not precisely the plight of a conventional purchaser. But the 2023 Padres are something however conventional.

“I don’t think those areas are something that I say anything about,” Kim mentioned. “All I can do is just go out there and do my job, help the team to win the ballgame. It goes the same for all the boys in the clubhouse. I trust in the coaching staff and the front office will make good decisions for the organization. … All we can do is go out there, play hard, win ballgames.”

Kim did his half Saturday. So did Darvish, who was glorious throughout six innings, bouncing again from a tough outing on Monday night time towards the Pirates. He struck out 9 and allowed three hits, whereas strolling two. Those two walks occurred to be the primary two hitters he confronted, and the veteran right-hander discovered himself on the ropes early.

“Pregame bullpen was pretty good,” Darvish mentioned. “Obviously, I gave up a walk to the first two hitters. But I knew that I had the stuff today and the confidence was there. So I just let it go.”

Darvish pitched his means out of hassle within the first after which did the identical within the second. From there, he locked it down, permitting just one baserunner throughout his remaining 4 innings. 

Saturday marked solely the second time in his profession that Darvish confronted the Rangers, his first huge league crew. He was roughed up the primary time he confronted them, as a Cub in 2019.

“My goal for today was … just to go into the game and have fun, be myself and pitch a good game,” Darvish mentioned. “That was my main focus. I didn’t really have time to think about who the opponent was.”

The Padres gave Darvish all of the offense he would want within the backside of the second. Campusano singled dwelling the sport’s first run. Gary Sánchez adopted with an RBI stroll. Two batters later, Kim doubled the lead with a two-run single, and the Padres led, 4-0.

And that was that. Rangers starter Martín Pérez held the Padres in test after the second. But he was outdone by his former teammate. Darvish and Pérez every debuted with the 2012 Rangers.

Pérez will quickly be gaining a brand new rotation mate. On Saturday, the Rangers agreed to a deal to accumulate Max Scherzer within the Deadline’s first true blockbuster, a supply informed MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The Mets, only one 1/2 video games behind the Padres, have introduced themselves as sellers. The Rangers have introduced themselves as consumers.

The wait-and-see Padres? It’ll be resolution time quickly sufficient.