Darvish off mark in rocky opener to key homestand

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres know what’s on the line during their six-game homestand against the reeling Pirates and high-flying Rangers. They know it’s not just about trying to paint themselves into the NL Wild Card picture as sand inexorably falls in the hourglass of the 2023 season.

These six games are about going into August with the same group of players the Padres started the homestand with. Those are the stakes of Trade Deadline season.

Knowing all that, the Padres began their final homestand before the Aug. 1 Deadline with a clunker, falling 8-4 to the Pirates on Monday night at Petco Park. Yu Darvish matched his career high with four home runs allowed as the Bucs built a seven-run lead before the game was halfway through.

The Padres sit 48-53, six games out of the final NL Wild Card spot. They still haven’t won more than three consecutive games this year. They are 18-21 against teams under .500. Their run differential (+48, third-best in the NL) suggests they’re capable of an extended playoff push and of punishing lesser competition, but it hasn’t happened with any consistency.

“That’s baseball,” cornerstone Padres star Manny Machado said. “It’s hard. It’s not easy.”

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It certainly isn’t any easier when you know every loss increases the chances one of your teammates -- Blake Snell and Josh Hader being the two names most bandied about -- might be wearing a different uniform in a week or so. The Padres talk about focus, about the need to get one win and then worry about the next. But that’s easier said than done.

“We’re all human beings, at the end of the day,” Machado said. “You’re bringing up players, certain players. As humans, it’s frustrating. It takes a toll on your body, on your mind. So it’s not easy. At the end of the day, you’ve got to go out there and focus on baseball and winning any way you possibly can.

“It’s not easy, but it’s part of the game, part of baseball. You just have to learn how to deal with it, move forward and try to be as professional as you can. It’s definitely a tough week.”

Ha-Seong Kim gave Petco Park a jolt of energy with the third leadoff homer of his career -- all this year -- suggesting the Padres could block out the noise of Deadline season and set a tone for this homestand. But Darvish yielded homers to Jack Suwinski, Carlos Santana, Liover Peguero (his career first) and, finally, Santana again.

Kim recorded his first multi-homer game when he went deep against rookie Pirates starter Quinn Priester in the fifth inning, but the Padres had too big a hole to overcome.

“There’s been a lot of disappointments,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “This just kind of adds to the frustration. We haven’t been able to do anything to give ourselves a ton of confidence. So we have to do that -- come back tomorrow and win a game and then win a series.”

Darvish’s line included seven runs, eight hits and three walks across 4 1/3 innings. Statcast credited him with eight types of pitches thrown. Velocity was down on six -- all but his slider and solitary knuckle-curve. Spin was down on all but his curve.

“I just didn’t have a good feel for my spin,” Darvish said, via interpreter Shingo Horie. “I tried to make adjustments in the game, but just couldn’t bring it to a point where it was effective enough.”

Darvish said it was simply a game to “turn the page” on. The Padres are hoping the pages ahead change the plot, but not the characters.

“I’m always in the camp that we have enough here to go where we want to go,” Melvin said. “I definitely think we do. If it ends up [we’re] adding, then great. But I like our team.”