PHOENIX – Nothing went according to plan for newly acquired right-handed pitcher JP Sears during the San Diego Padres (6-2) loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday at Chase Field. 

Being charged for his 10th loss this season, Sears had an unconventional debut since being dealt at the trade deadline by the Athletics that included former all-star reliever Mason Miller. He allowed five earned runs on 10 hits through five innings to pair with four strikeouts and a walk on 94 pitches. 

“They put a lot of good swings on him,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “I give him a lot of credit though, we gut it up. It’s not like where we were set up today… We didn’t have a long man we don’t want to use our up guys either. He gut it up, found a way to gut through five and give us a chance. It’s just too many pitches. more in the middle part of the plate and they put some good at-bats together.” 

Sears’ rough go started in the first inning, giving up back-to-back singles on three pitches and later giving up the first run to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on a ground ball single. His troubles continued during the next two innings when he loaded the bases with no outs, resulting in a sac-fly in the second inning, and surrendered a solo shot in the third inning to Tyler Locklear, catching a 78 mph sweeper tight and inside the zone.

During the fourth inning, Sears allowed hits to four of his first five batters he faced, which resulted in two additional runs for the Diamondbacks. He would get through the fifth inning unscathed, working a clean, scoreless frame.   

“Obviously, not too happy with the results,” Sears said. “… Just some poor execution on some sweepers and some long counts. So credit them for just fouling off a lot of pitches and putting the ball in play.”  

The Padres went to reliever Wandy Peralta and Yuki Matsui for the final three innings and combined for one earned run and two hits.  

Offensively, the bats were not present for the Padres, who are coming off a 17 run outing over the weekend against the Cardinals. The club opened the series by only putting up two runs on six hits. 

Going against right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (11-7, 5.02 ERA), the Padres had a difficult time stringing any consistent offense through 5 ⅔ innings only chalking together five hits and struck out four times. For the remainder 3 ⅓ innings, they were held scoreless, posted one hit and were struck out an additional four times. 

San Diego’s first run came during the third inning and cut the deficit to 2-1 following two consecutive doubles by Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill, who split the gap out in left field to earn his 15th double and 47th RBI of the season. The final run came in the sixth inning when Jake Cronenworth (35) labeled a sharp line drive to right field to score Gavin Sheets, who made his first start in the lineup since before the trade deadline as the designated hitter.  

Even with the new names in the lineup, their struggles with runners in scoring position were still flaring as they finished 2-for-7 and stranded eight runners on base. 

Of the six total hits, five different Padres’ batters recorded a hit: Fernando Tatis Jr. (1), Ramón Laureano (2), Machado (1), Merrill (1) and Cronenworth (1). 

With the loss, Luis Arraez’s 16 game hitting streak came to an end after going 0-for-3. Merrill, however, has now reached base safely in 17 of his last 18 games, recording a hit in 14 of those games, and driving in at least one run in six consecutive games.

Following Monday’s final scores from around the Majors, the Padres (62-51) trail the Dodgers (65-48) by three games for first place in the NL West and still hold the final NL Wild Card spot by three games over the Reds (59-54).Â