Tatis goes hard on the bases ... and pays the price

SAN DIEGO -- On the whole, Fernando Tatis Jr. had a solid night Friday. He homered. He made an outstanding running catch in the right-center-field gap. He finished 2-for-4.

But in the Padres’ 6-1 loss to the Red Sox at Petco Park, it was Tatis’ first-inning baserunning miscue that felt wholly emblematic of the recent plight in San Diego.

• Machado placed on IL with fractured left hand

It’s been rough here lately. The Padres have dropped 10 of 12 to fall five games below .500. At the plate, they’re pressing. On the bases, they’re making mistakes. They’ve spent the past two weeks searching for answers -- including a postgame clubhouse meeting last week in Minnesota and a players-only meeting earlier this week in San Diego.

Answers remain elusive -- no matter how much they push the envelope in search of them.

Tatis opened the bottom half of the first inning Friday night by lacing a rocket to left field. He busted hard out of the batter’s box and rounded first with intent. And then, somewhat inexplicably, Tatis took off for second.

To be fair, it is Tatis, so “inexplicable” isn’t the right word. Tatis is a master at making precisely that type of baserunning decision -- when to put pressure on the defense and when not to. But he got this one wrong.

“I was just being aggressive, as always,” Tatis said. “The outfielder made a good throw. … I’ve always been an aggressive player, and I’m trying to take two right there.”

Tatis was tagged out at second base. The spark he’d been looking to provide went for naught. Ha-Seong Kim followed with a single of his own, and Juan Soto walked. But the Padres didn’t score in the frame.

“He’s just trying to be aggressive, give us a spark,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “It was really close as is. But I think it’s more him trying to give us a little energy and a spark right out of the gate.”

That decision backfired, as they have too often for the Padres recently. Shortly thereafter, the Red Sox took the lead, then turned it into a rout with a five-run third inning.

Left-hander Blake Snell surrendered a pair of homers to Rafael Devers -- a solo drive in the second and a three-run moonshot in the third to make it 6-0. The Padres’ offense has left its pitchers little margin for error recently. But generally those pitchers have at least managed to keep things close.

“I didn’t help them by putting them in a hole,” Snell said. “I’ve got to throw zeros. … Me having that inning that I had, it’s not helping. I’ve got to do a better job.”

Snell fell victim to a questionable check-swing call on what could've been strike three to Rob Refsnyder in the third. Instead, Refsnyder followed with a two-run double, before Devers' three-run homer. Just like that, the Padres trailed by six.

Tatis homered in the bottom of the third, but the Padres produced little else offensively. Their struggles with men in scoring position have been rehashed ad nauseam, and Friday brought more of the same. They went 0-for-3, including Adam Engel’s bases-loaded popup in the fourth. On a 3-1 count, with Tatis looming on deck, Engel swung at a pitch that might’ve been below the zone.

“Probably trying to do a little too much,” Melvin said. “In Engel’s case, he hasn’t had many at-bats, so that’s a little bit more difficult. He got in a couple good counts. … We’ve just got to keep working.”

In the fourth, Tatis made a running catch at the warning track in right-center field, a ball with a 30% catch probability -- further proof that he has adapted to his new position. In the fifth, Jake Cronenworth snared a Devers liner with a brilliant diving catch.

The Padres’ bullpen tossed five scoreless innings -- three from Brent Honeywell Jr. and two from Tom Cosgrove. That relief corps has gone more than a week without allowing a run, a span of six games and 22 1/3 innings.

Again, the Padres could take a few positives from their performance. Again, it felt like little consolation. They’re now staring down the prospect of a lineup without Manny Machado, too, after Machado was placed on the IL with a fractured bone in his left hand prior to Friday’s game.

“We’ve got to perform no matter what, just because of the way we’re playing,” Tatis said. “But now even more. When you lose a guy like that, obviously you’re going to feel it. Manny’s one of the best players to ever play this game. We’ve just got to hold that line until he comes back.”