The Padres could say they fought on Wednesday.
The problem was one of the things they had to fight was their starting pitcher once again burying them in an avalanche of runs early in the game.
And they could, once again, not battle back all the way.
So there remains a sinking feeling in a season that was not long ago headed in an almost entirely upward direction.
A 7-5 loss at Petco Park completed a sweep at the hands of the Orioles, who arrived in San Diego with the second-worst record (61-76) in the American League. It was the Padres’ eighth loss in 10 games and dropped them to 12 games above .500 (76-64) for the first time since Aug. 8, when they were 64-52.
They are three games behind the Dodgers in the National League West and could lose another half-game by Wednesday night. The Mets lost Wednesday and remain a game behind the Padres, who hold the second of three NL wild-card spots.
The Padres scored the game’s final five runs.
That was after Nestor Cortes allowed six runs and four home runs while getting seven outs and Sean Reynolds surrendered another run before ending the third inning.
It was the eighth time in their past 18 games that the Padres trailed at least 2-0 by the fourth inning. In five of those games, it was at least 3-0 by the third inning.
Reynolds worked through the fifth without any more damage. Kyle Hart retired the Orioles in order in the sixth. Jeremiah Estrada worked a scoreless seventh. In the eighth, Mason Miller struck out the side on nine pitches to complete the second immaculate inning in Padres history (Brian Lawrence, 2002) and the 121st ever thrown in MLB. Robert Suarez worked 1-2-3 ninth with help from Ramón Laureano running 70 feet toward the short wall in the left field corner and leaping to rob Cowser of a home run.
The Padres woke from five innings of shocked slumber to score four runs in the sixth inning and another in the seventh.
With a two-run homer by Manny Machado, a pair of singles and a pair of walks, they brought the potential tying run to the plate in the sixth before a double play grounder with the bases loaded got them to 7-4 and a strikeout ended the inning.
Fernando Tatis Jr.’s homer leading off the seventh made it 7-5.
A lead-off single by Ramón Laureano in the eighth inning was followed by three strikeouts.
The Padres’ final gasp, in the ninth against Yennier Cano, consisted of pinch-hitter Will Wagner and Tatis striking out and Luis Arraez grounding out.
Originally Published: September 3, 2025 at 3:56 PM PDT