Vásquez pitch-location – Randy Vásquez’s pitch-location struggles turned into a nightmare on Saturday night at Petco Park, where the Dodgers erupted for seven runs in the sixth inning on the way to a 15-3 win over the Padres. San Diego’s opener plan with Kyle Hart didn’t go as intende
SAN DIEGO — The Padres watched a close game slip out of reach in a hurry, and by the time the sixth inning ended, it didn’t feel like a loss anymore. It felt like a reset button the Dodgers had pressed.
The Dodgers scored seven runs in the sixth inning — five of them earned — highlighted by a pair of home runs, and cruised to a 15-3 victory over the Padres on Saturday night at Petco Park. San Diego’s four-game winning streak was snapped in emphatic fashion.
Randy Vásquez simply couldn’t get ahead of hitters, and he knew why.
“I’m paying for it at the end of the day,” Vásquez said through interpreter Jorge Merlos, describing the issue plainly as “the location of my pitches.”
In the early part of the season, Vásquez had looked like the Padres’ most valuable starter. He worked deep into games and carried a 2.68 ERA into his May 20 start against the Dodgers. But the stretch since has been a steady slide. In his seven starts since then. Vásquez has posted a 6.59 ERA and has worked more than five innings just once.
Before Saturday’s outing, the Padres bumped him back in the rotation by a couple days, giving him a bit of a breather. They also tried something different from the start — an opener strategy, with lefty Kyle Hart for the first two innings. It didn’t change the result.
In the sixth, the Dodgers took full advantage. Vásquez unraveled, and the Dodgers turned that unraveling into runs, including five earned against him and two home runs that came with the inning already tilting.
With the damage done, the next step was already visible: Vásquez is lined up to face the Dodgers again in the opener of a four-game series at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. He sounded determined, even if the words couldn’t erase what happened on Saturday.
“Just keep working,” Vásquez said. “Just keep working … to make sure that I have all the confidence in the world to come back in the next start.”
The opener plan made sense on paper — and the problem was the timing
Before the game, manager Craig Stammen said he preferred Hart for the first inning or two to limit Vásquez’s exposure to the top of the Dodgers’ lineup. The thinking was simple: keep Vásquez from facing the hardest part of Los Angeles’ order right away.
Hart did exactly what the plan asked for in a 1-2-3 first inning.
Then the second inning came, and things unraveled for a reason that was hard to miss afterward. Hart emerged for the second inning and surrendered a run. He faced six Dodgers in the frame, while Vásquez worked to get loose in the bullpen.
Stammen later pointed to availability and questioned the execution without fully explaining it.
“Randy was definitely available to come in in that inning,” Stammen said. “But Kyle ended up getting out of that inning just fine.”
The inning ended, and Vásquez’s night began in the third — not the second. That meant he entered to face the top of the Dodgers’ lineup, exactly the kind of exposure the Padres’ plan was meant to avoid.
Vásquez’s first matchup against the order began with Shohei Ohtani and continued through the early part of the lineup, and the sequence looked like a plan backfiring as much as a pitcher missing bats like he used to.
That’s the part that lingered: Hart was used early, but the moment to pull the plug and shorten the risk to Vásquez never came.
The Padres also felt the absence of Jake Cronenworth at second — and it showed in the sixth
This wasn’t only about pitching. The Padres missing Jake Cronenworth at second base is now a noticeable part of the story.
Fernando Tatis Jr. has been better than expected at second base. but the tradeoff is clear: the Platinum Glove that Cronenworth brings in right field is gone from the lineup. Sung-Mun Song has been good defensively. but you’re “usually not getting enough offense from him.” Will Wagner has been seen as a possible solution. too — he has looked like a useful lefty-hitting bench bat. But as the regular second baseman, his glove is suspect.
Saturday, the suspect part landed at the worst possible time.
Gavin Sheets tied the game at 1 with a booming solo home run in the fifth. But in the top of the sixth, Wagner booted a routine grounder, allowing the go-ahead run to score.
It would be unfair to pin everything on Wagner alone. The Dodgers’ surge was driven by more than one mistake, and Vásquez’s performance collapsed along with the inning. But Wagner’s error added fuel to an already-flaring situation.
There’s another reason this loss stings beyond the score: Cronenworth is finally on his way back.
Cronenworth began a rehab stint with Triple-A El Paso on Friday, after passing concussion protocols. He’ll need a buildup period, but the expectation is that he’ll be back in the San Diego lineup before the All-Star break.
The Padres need him. After a night where everything that could go wrong did, that need doesn’t feel like a talking point. It feels like a requirement.
Randy Vásquez Dodgers Padres Petco Park Kyle Hart Craig Stammen Shohei Ohtani Freddie Freeman Jake Cronenworth Fernando Tatis Jr. Will Wagner Gavin Sheets