SAN DIEGO — The improved San Diego Padres offense continued to do new things, but could not shake old habits.
Down big from the start, the Padres clawed and scraped and scratched back Thursday night but failed too much in the middle and faded in the end of an 8-6 loss to the Guardians at Petco Park.
The defeat kept the Padres from their first sweep of a three-game series this season and from getting back to .500 for the first time since May 11.
That they made a game of it ultimately would not matter, but neither was it nothing after they trailed 5-0 a half-inning into the night.
There were a lot of places to assign blame and praise.
For the second time in three starts, Ryan Weathers lasted just 12/3 innings. He departed having allowed six runs.
But for all the uncommon fight the Padres showed, their inability to make it all the way back owed to the ongoing problem of not converting with runners in scoring position and to making the second out at home in one inning and at third base in another.
The Padres have not been all that good at coming back from deficits. Their 13 comebacks were sixth fewest in the majors entering Thursday. They had only come back from a deficit of more than one run on four occasions. They had not come back to win a game in which they trailed by more than four runs, though just 14 teams have done so (17 times) this season.
Unlike so many games in which trailing early created a feeling of inevitability, the Padres chipped away Thursday.
A 5-0 deficit was 5-3 by the end of the first inning. A 6-3 deficit in the second became 6-5 after three innings. A 7-5 deficit in the fourth was 7-6 after five.
Along the way, though, it became as much about the Padres’ failure as their fight.
A two-out double by Austin Nola and walks by Fernando Tatis Jr. and Juan Soto were followed by Manny Machado striking out on three pitches in a scoreless second inning. In the fourth, the Padres loaded the bases with one out before Xander Bogaerts grounded into a double play on the first pitch he saw. After a leadoff double in the sixth, Soto took off on an attempted steal of third with one out and, after initially being called safe, was ruled out on a replay challenge. In the eighth, Soto struck out and Machado grounded out after Tatis reached second with one down.
The flameout happened in large part because the Padres were 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
But it was Weathers who lit a match on the night.
The 23-year-old left-hander threw 43 pitches in three innings Sunday, a start purposely cut short by plan of the front office. And he threw just 44 pitches in the start before that.
So Thursday was going to involve him being followed by multiple relievers.
The Padres, however, were hoping for a few more innings from Weathers. And a lot fewer runs allowed.
Three singles loaded the bases in the top of the first, and former Padre Josh Naylor’s one-out single put the Guardians up 2-0. David Fry’s three-run homer with two outs made it 5-0.
Machado followed walks by Tatis and Soto with a 430-foot home run to the seats beyond left field in the bottom of the first.
In the second, Jose Ramírez’s two-out double drove in a run and ended Weathers’ night.
Bogaerts and Ha-Seong Kim began the third inning with singles. Both moved up a base on Nelson Cruz’s fly ball out to right field, and both scored on Brandon Dixon’s slow-rolling groundout to first base — Bogaerts easily and Kim by never stopping as he rounded third base.
Kim led off the fifth with a double and beat a throw to third base on Cruz’s grounder to shortstop. That put runners at the corners, and Trent Grisham’s one-out double off the right field wall scored Kim to make it 7-6 while moving Cruz to third. The inning fizzled when Cruz was thrown out trying to score on a safety squeeze by Nola and Tatis flied out to center.
