New starter Jake Arrieta was injured within the defeat when the rowdy San Diego Padres went on a “brutal highway journey”
Add San Diego Padres’ new pitcher Jake Arrieta to the team’s list of walking injuries after exiting his start against the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday with a slight strain on his left hamstrings.
Arrieta, 35, gave up five runs in 3.1 innings before pulling out. His last pitch was hit by Rockies catcher Dom Nunez for a home run. The right-handed man said he felt a pinch in his hamstring when he landed on his follow-through.
“It’s an unfortunate introduction to the group,” said Arrieta after the Padres lost 7-5. “I’m sorry about what happened. It’s not the way you want to start your new group, especially in a situation where you’re going to stop the bleeding and save a game on the series.”
Arrieta was signed on Tuesday despite putting together a 6.88 ERA with the Chicago Cubs this season. Injuries to Padre’s pitchers made the move necessary as left-handed Matt Strahm joined teammates Yu Darvish, Drew Pomeranz, Dinelson Lamet and Chris Paddack on the injury list. Strahm has an infection in his right knee. Arrieta doesn’t think his injury is serious.
The defeat ended a “brutal” road trip for the Padres, who went 1-5 against Arizona and Colorado. The Rockies sealed the trip from San Diego with one swing.
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“It is definitely not expected, here we are,” said Padres manager Jayce Tinger. “It’s a brutal road trip. There’s never anything going on.
“We have to get better at all aspects of the game. It’s frustrating. We have the guys who can do it.”
Despite the loss, the Padres remain 1.5 games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for second wildcard position. The Reds also lost a series to a team under .500 as the Cubs took two out of three games from them this week. It’s an issue that San Diego had to grapple with all season: The Padres are only 36-36 against less than .500 teams. Tinger was asked if he could explain the oddity, considering it’s a total of 11 games over .500.
“I don’t know how, unless we were inconsistent,” he said. “No doubt about it. … We weren’t great on the road. We weren’t good against some of the teams with less than 0.500 records.”
Given their injuries, it comes as no surprise that the Padres have problems on the hill. They had the second worst ERA in the National League in the seven days leading up to Wednesday’s game. After Arrieta came out, Reliever Nabil Crismatt gave up two runs, which made the difference in the contest.
“There is a sense of urgency,” said Tinger. “The boys fight. They play hard. As soon as a few things click, we have a chance to get started.”
The padres hope to do so at home, where they are 40-24 years old this season. You’ll host the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers starting this weekend. Both opponents have playoff aspirations but that can be a good thing. The padres play better against better competition.
“We’re a team that can get really hot at any point,” said outfielder Wil Myers. “We can get 10 wins in one year. We showed that. If we want to focus on the negatives, these things will keep piling up.”
Tingler was asked how the team was feeling after the tough journey.
“Where are we?” he asked rhetorically. “Angry. Frustrated. These can be good things.”
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