SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres have celebrated earning a playoff appearance just once in front of fans at Petco Park.
The earliest it will happen again is Sunday, as they continued Friday to delay what still seems inevitable but feels a little less so with each passing defeat.
The latest of those was a 3-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox, which kept the Padres’ magic number at three.
A third straight defeat, combined with a victory by the Milwaukee Brewers, left the Padres needing three victories or three Brewers’ losses, or any combination of the two, in the next five games.
The missed opportunity against a team out of playoff contention came on a night the Padres pitched their ace and were facing a rookie making his eighth start.
The Padres scored just once in 5 2/3 innings against right-hander Davis Martin, who struck out a career-high eight batters.
They did not score in the fourth inning despite having runners at first and second with one out.
An aggressive send by third base coach Matt Williams, with Manny Machado due up, cost the Padres a chance to at least tie the game in the fifth inning.
They failed to score in the seventh after Ha-Seong Kim led off with a single and stole second base before an out was made.
The White Sox scored twice in the fourth inning and added a run in the sixth against Yu Darvish, who lost for the first time in seven starts.
The Padres not making the playoffs would require them losing three of five while the Brewers finish 5-0, losing four of five while the Brewers go 4-1 or going winless while the Brewers finish 3-2.
So while it isn’t guaranteed, especially with the Padres having gone 4-for-32 with runners in scoring position while winning just once in the past four games, it still seems likely that at some point champagne will be uncorked in the Padres’ clubhouse and there will be a celebration on the field at Petco Park in front of fans for the first time since 2005.
The Padres’ last playoff appearance came in the COVID-shortened 2020 season when games were played in virtually empty ballparks. Their previous playoff appearance was in 2006, and they clinched while in Arizona.
The only time a Padres team has celebrated a playoff berth in front of fans in their downtown ballpark was on Sept. 28, 2005, when they clinched the National League West.
There have been just six playoff appearances in the franchise’s 53 seasons. Four have been clinched in San Diego. Two of those came in Mission Valley — in 1984 at what was then called Jack Murphy Stadium and 1998 at Qualcomm Stadium. The other was in ’20.
“It’s right there for us,” manager Bob Melvin said before the game. “… It’d be nice to get back on a little bit of a winning streak here and hopefully take care of business.”
The Padres took a 1-0 lead in the second inning Friday when Brandon Drury grounded a ball through the middle and hustled to second for a one-out double. Josh Bell, who entered the game hitless in his previous 15 at-bats, followed with a single up the middle that scored Drury.
Those were the Padres’ only baserunners in the first three innings.
A towering home run by Eloy Jimenez off the second-level balcony of the Western Metal Building tied the game 1-1 on the first pitch of the fourth inning.
Darvish would not get the first out of the inning until Chicago had two more hits and held a 2-1 lead.
Gavin Sheets followed Jimenez to the plate and lined a 1-1 slider to left-center field for a double. He scored on Yoan Moncada’s line drive single to right field on a 1-0 fastball.
Jake Cronenworth lined a one-out double to left field in the fourth inning, and Drury reached after being hit in the helmet by a 96 mph fastball.
It was the second time this month Drury went down after taking a pitch to a part of his helmet. A 88 mph Dustin May curveball caught him in his face guard on Sept. 2 at Dodger Stadium. Drury remained in that game and came around to score before being removed. He missed the next 10 games with a concussion.
Drury and Cronenworth were stranded after Bell and Kim struck out, and Drury took his spot in the field at first base in the top of the fifth inning and finished the game.
The White Sox added on in the sixth on Moncada’s double and a single by Andrew Vaughn, both with one out.
Jurickson Profar’s one-out single in the fifth was followed by Juan Soto lining a double to right field. Williams waved Profar around even though second baseman Josh Harrison already had the relay throw in hand and Machado was on deck.
Machado went 0-for-4 and is 3-for-17 in the past four games.
Rather than having him face the Los Angeles Dodgers on regular rest Thursday, the Padres held Darvish back a day with the idea he starts their first playoff game on Oct. 7. The primary reasoning was that he would be better served to have six days off before that start instead of the seven he would have had if he had pitched Thursday.
He did complete at least six innings for the 23rd consecutive start. He was replaced by Luis Garcia at the beginning of the seventh inning, meaning Darvish would not win a seventh consecutive start or set a career-high with 17 wins for the season.
