David Morgan was called on to pitch for the San Diego Padres after starter JP Sears completed just 3 2/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners. Morgan inherited a runner at third base with the game tied, 4-4.
Morgan recorded a strikeout of Victor Robles to end the fourth inning and keep the game tied. He returned to the mound in the bottom of the fifth and only recorded two outs before he was relieved by Wandy Peralta. Seattle scored five times in the inning, with all five runs being charged to Morgan, and the Padres dropped the first game of the series to the Mariners, 9-6 at T-Mobile Park, Monday.
Sears surrendered the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning after loading the bases to start the home half. Seattle loaded the bases with no outs after Sears allowed a single to Josh Naylor, a walk to Mitch Garver and a single to Jorge Polanco. That prompted a mound visit from San Diego Pitching Coach Ruben Niebla. Sears followed the visit by getting J.P. Crawford to bounce into a double play. However, Naylor scored from third and tied the game, 4-4.
Morgan got the final out of the fourth and returned to the mound for the fifth. He started the fifth like he ended the fourth, getting a strikeout of Randy Arozarena. He then hit Cal Raleigh and got Julio Rodriguez to bounce into a fielder’s choice with Raleigh getting thrown out at second.
With two outs in the frame, Morgan walked Eugenio Suarez and allowed a single to Josh Naylor, which allowed Rodriguez to score from second to give the Mariners a 5-4 lead. Morgan then walked Garver to load the bases for Polanco. Facing a 2-2 count, Polanco hit the ball into right field to score Suarez and Naylor to put Seattle up, 7-4.
Peralta came into the game attempting to strand Garver and Polanco. Instead, a flare off the bat of J.P. Crawford dropped between Ramon Laureano and a sliding Fernando Tatis Jr. in center field, allowing both runners to score to put the Marines ahead of the Padres, 9-4.
San Diego responded in the top of the seventh inning with a Laureano leadoff home run to cut the deficit to, 9-5.
The Padres loaded the bases in the top of the eighth inning, but Laureano struck out to end the threat. San Diego did add a run in the top of the ninth on an RBI-groundout from Luis Arraez to score Will Wagner and make the score 9-6, but the Padres ran out of outs before they could add on and they dropped their second game in as many days.
The game started with a home run frenzy. Sears surrendered a first-inning solo home run to Raleigh, which was his 50th home run of the season, to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.
San Diego followed with three home runs in the top of the second inning and jumped out to a 4-1 lead. Gavin Sheets and Jake Cronenworth each hit solo home runs and Tatis Jr. hit the third home run of the inning after a Freddy Fermin walk to give the Padres a three-run lead.
Seattle answered right back with the fifth home run of the game. This time it was Polanco, who hit a two-run home run following a Manny Machado error, that made the score 4-3 after three innings.
San Diego will try to get back in the win column against Seattle, Tuesday at 6:40 p.m.