LOS ANGELES — The Padres on Thursday attempted to answer the question of what could be worse than losing by 20 runs.
The answer might be letting go of a six-run lead built by getting six extra-base hits in the first two innings and then falling behind two innings later and losing by five.
“It’s testing our morale,” manager Craig Stammen said after a 12-7 loss to the Dodgers. “Testing my positivity, for sure. So we’ll show up and with a smile on our face tomorrow, ready to compete.”
That wasn’t enough Thursday, when they came out swinging a day after losing 23-3 in Chicago. But there really isn’t much else they can do.
The debate of whether getting routed by the largest margin in franchise history when your catcher gave up the final eight runs is worse than squandering a big lead and getting trounced by the best team in baseball is entirely subjective and ultimately moot.
What matters is the Padres are a .500 team in a spiral.
“We’re not in the position we want to be, but we’ve gotta do something about it,” Jake Cronenworth said. “And it’s gotta be a sense of urgency.”
If not, the way the season is trending, the Padres (43-43) won’t even be even for long.
They are now on their second consecutive six-game losing streak of 2026 and have not had a starting pitcher last longer than 4⅔ innings in any of those past six games.
Randy Vásquez, who allowed six runs in an inning on June 15 against the Rangers and seven runs in an inning on Saturday against the Dodgers, took a 6-0 lead to the mound in the second inning Thursday and gave back four of the runs over the next two innings.
(Vásquez was hit on the right foot by a 99 mph liner off the bat of Mookie Betts in the first inning. After he departed the game, he was on his way to get X-rays when he fainted. Stammen said Vásquez was conscious but had been taken to the hospital for tests.)
Wandy Peralta, who did not allow a run in 18 innings in June, let the final two runs of the advantage slip away and let the Dodgers take a two-run lead in the fourth inning.
Yuki Matsui allowed two runs in the fifth, and Germán Márquez surrendered one in the sixth and one in the eighth.
It is difficult to imagine a team having a more deflating couple days.
Part of the reason for the sting was how well Thursday began.
The Padres came in out of the stifling heat and humidity at Wrigley Field on Wednesday afternoon, talked a bit among themselves about urgency and intensity and then boarded buses for the airport.
Their flight to Southern California featured more energy and laughter than it might have were this not a family trip, with wives and children along.
The Padres sure seemed to start fresh.
Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled on the first pitch of Thursday’s game. Manny Machado hit Roki Sasaki’s eighth pitch over the wall in center field.
Jackson Merrill led off the second with a home run, and Xander Bogaerts followed with a double. After two groundouts, Tatis walked and Cronenworth homered to make it 6-0.
That was more runs than the Padres had scored in the first two innings of a game this season.
With Gavin Sheets hitting a double with two outs in the second and Freddy Fermin doubling with two outs in the third, the Padres’ first seven hits were for extra bases. It was more extra-base hits than they had in a game this season.
They also made Sasaki throw 88 pitches, ending his night after three innings.
But getting into the bullpen did not pay the dividends it did for the Dodgers.
A single by Ty France in the fifth and one by Samad Taylor in the sixth were the Padres’ only hits until the ninth inning, when they scored on two walks and Miguel Andujar’s single.
“I think after a long game like yesterday, to come out today and take that first punch was huge for us,” Sheets said. “I thought that was extremely important for us to do, and I was proud of the offense that we (kept) Chicago in Chicago and came out and punched first. After that, they took over the momentum, and we couldn’t get it back.
“Losses like today are always tough. Kind of like we did (after Wednesday), we’ve got to come back out tomorrow, and punch first. It’s extremely important, even more than ever, to come out and try to get the momentum on our side early.”
