The Padres got the kind of gift that seemed fitting considering how historically well things have gone for them to start the 2025 season.
They took advantage, which also seemed right for a team that has done so time and again through the season’s first three weeks.
But on this night, where they would fall a victory short of more history, they could not make that stand up in the end.
The Padres quickly squandered the favor(s) the Cubs did for them and then lost for the first time in a dozen games at Petco Park this season, 2-1 in 10 innings.
“Pitchers’ duel,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “Bullpens were good. They were able to execute in the extra innings with the runner at second, and it turned out to be the difference.”
The Cubs struck immediately in the 10th when Nico Hoerner hit the third pitch from Yuki Matsui to the gap in right field for a triple that drove in automatic runner Dansby Swanson from second base.
Matsui stranded Hoerner with a pop fly and two strikeouts, but the Padres failed to score against Caleb Thielbar in the bottom half of the inning.
Automatic runner Jose Iglesias stole third base with one out but was left there when pinch-hitter Elias Díaz grounded out and, after Fernando Tatis Jr. was intentionally walked, Luis Arraez hit a fly ball out to left field.
“We obviously were there to the end,” Manny Machado said. “We just couldn’t capitalize on that one hit. We created some opportunities early on the game. … I mean, just sometimes it goes that way.”
The loss kept the 2025 Padres from holding the distinction alone of having the best 18-game start in franchise history. They entered the game 14-3, same as the 1998 club, which lost its 18th game as well.
The events that made Tuesday’s game square were improbable and came in rapid succession.
The home run that Machado hit 400 feet and eight rows deep in the stands beyond left field to put the Padres up 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning almost didn’t happen. Twice.
It shouldn’t have happened. And then, of course it happened.
It was altogether extremely lucky and most hard-earned.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Machado hit a high fly ball down the right field line that right fielder Kyle Tucker ran in and seemed about to catch when he suddenly became tentative and sort of stabbed at the ball, which went in and out of his glove.
“You’re talking about a Gold Glover out there,” Machado said. “He’s giving you another chance to go out there to continue to compete in an at-bat that kind of kind of changed the game a little bit. So I was definitely excited to see some more pitches.”
Machado then laid off two splitters well below the zone before hitting another high foul, this one behind the plate. But catcher Miguel Amaya never saw the ball and drifted out into fair territory toward first base. As the ball descended, third baseman Gage Workman sprinted in to try to make the catch but had the ball go off his glove.
Four pitches into the at-bat, the Cubs had committed two errors.
Machado fouled off four more pitches.
“Man, he was making some good pitches, really good pitches,” Machado said. “Kept fouling them off.”
Shota Imanaga ultimately left a 92 mph fastball on the inner third of the plate that Machado turned around at 105.8 mph.
“Keep at it and keep going,” Machado said of his mindset in the moment. “He’s been making tremendous pitches all game. Just keep trying to hunt that mistake. He didn’t (make) many. I was lucky enough to put one in the seats.”
The lead did not last long.
Swanson, whom Padres starter Randy Vásquez had struck out twice, led off the sixth inning with a single lined to right field and went to third on a single grounded up the middle by Hoerner.
That ended Vásquez’s night, as Shildt went to left-hander Adrián Morejón, who was able to strand one of the runners but not prevent the game from being tied.
Swanson scored on a sacrifice bunt by Pete Crow-Armstrong, and the Cubs had runners at first and second because first baseman Arraez had the ball slip out of his hand as he went to throw home.
Another sacrifice bunt, by Amaya, moved the runners up but gave Morejón his first out. He got the second out when Arraez sure-handedly fielded a grounder by pinch-hitter Jon Berti and threw home, where Martín Maldonado tagged out Hoerner. A fly ball out to center field by Ian Happ ended the inning.
Tuesday was a starting pitching rematch from April 4 at Wrigley Field in which Imanaga looked a lot like he was going to be every bit as good as he was in his first MLB season and the 26-year-old Vásquez looked a lot like the inconsistent time bomb he was in 2024.
The 31-year-old Imanaga, who spent eight seasons in Japan coming to America, held the Padres to one run in 7⅓ innings in that first meeting. Vásquez walked five, surrendered two and was charged with three runs (two earned) in 4⅔ innings.
Tuesday night was different. Both pitchers worked five innings, and it looked for much of that time like two top-line starters going at it.
Both pitchers retired the first five batters they faced. Both escaped after loading the bases in the third inning, Vásquez with two outs and Imanaga with one out. The Cubs’ left-hander also escaped with a scoreless fourth inning after Oscar Gonzalez’s lead-off single and one-out double by Jose Iglesias.
“They did a good job,” Shildt said of the Cubs pitchers. “We didn’t do much with runners in scoring position. But, you know, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to do sometimes. Sometimes you tip your hat.”
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