One could forgive San Diego Padres fans if they soon forget the first Vedder Cup, as the Seattle Mariners earned their fifth win in the interleague series with a 4-3 win on Wednesday afternoon at T-Mobile Park.

The Padres (75-59) clawed back a pair of runs in the sixth inning off RBIs by Gavin Sheets and Jake Cronenworth, but the Mariners (72-62) never looked back after Eugenio Suárez hit a three-run home run in the fourth. Jake Cronenworth hit a double in the ninth inning and came home on an RBI double by Fernando Tatis Jr. with two outs, but he was left at third after a steal on a game-ending ground out.

“Two really good teams that just went toe-to-toe, and some big swings were the determination of it in both sides of it quite frankly, but man, hard fought,” said manager Mike Shildt. “I love this team so much, the way they compete, the way they get after it… outside of one big swing it felt like we played a really good baseball game, but they all count.”

Bryan Woo earned his 12th win of the season and Andrés Munoz held on for his 31st save. Yu Darvish went four innings for the Padres, giving up four hits and four runs with three strikeouts and a walk over 69 pitches in his fourth loss. San Diego finished the series with Seattle by having seven hits with runners in scoring position across the season series, while the Mariners had 14.

The Padres dropped another half game to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West race, with LA facing the Cincinnati Reds later on Wednesday. The Padres remained in the second NL Wild Card slot, trailing the Chicago Cubs by two games for the top slot and holding a three-game lead over the New York Mets for the final postseason entry.

“We’re going to get to a time where, yeah, we can go to the bullpen super early, but you’re talking about Yu Darvish and Dylan Cease and guys we have a lot of trust and confidence in, and the ability for those guys to go deeper is going to be important for the continued freshness of our bullpen,” Shildt said.

San Diego was able to score a pair of runs with two down in the sixth inning, as after Ramón Laureano led off by getting plunked and O’Hearn singled with one down, Sheets knocked a changeup back through the middle for an RBI single. 

Then after a Jose Iglesias single loaded the bases and chased starter Bryan Woo, Cronenworth wore an inside sinker by reliever Gabe Speier to bring in the second run.

Seattle had taken the lead by getting a run in the second inning when Luke Raley hit a double after Suárez singled and stole second. Then in the fourth Suárez would add a three-run home run, his 42nd of the season, to push the edge out to 4-0. It could’ve been more, as Raley caught a first-pitch curveball and sent it to the wall, but Sheets made a reaching and juggling grab to deny the long ball.

Xander Bogaerts fouled a pitch off the inside of his left foot during his at bat in the eighth inning, the third time in recent weeks that the San Diego short stop has hit a ball off his lead stride leg. Shildt said Bogaerts underwent imaging after the game and, had they extended the game, he would not have played afterward.

The Padres finished their stretch of 13 games in a row with a 6-7 record over the span.

“More recently our at bat quality since the beginning of August, and consistency of quality at bats second time through, righties versus lefties, runners in scoring position, our at bat quality has gone significantly up so… we’ve got a deep lineup and (if) everybody continues to take quality at bats we’ll feel good about where everybody’s hitting,” Shildt said when asked about Luis Arraez coming in Luis Arraez coming in as a pinch hitter in the seven spot to lead off the ninth inning during a scheduled off day.

The Mariners moved to within a game of the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West, pending the result of Houston’s home game against the Colorado Rockies later on Wednesday, and added a half game edge over the Kansas City Royals for the final AL Wild Card, with KC entering the day chasing three and facing the Chicago White Sox.

After an off day on Thursday, the Padres will face the Minnesota Twins on Friday, August 29 with first pitch at 6:10 p.m. Both clubs have yet to name starting pitchers for their first meeting in the 2025 season.

This story was updated at 4:40 p.m.