Bullpen back to normal, as Padres take series from Angels

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on May 15, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Things went according to plan Wednesday night in the Padres’ 5-1 victory over the Angels.

Things were at least back to normal with the bullpen. And the Padres got what might be the new normal from Randy Vásquez.

The Padres scored three runs their first time up and two their final time up. And in between, they let their pitchers do what they have done so much this season but had not done so much collectively of late.

Vásquez (3-3, 3.45) worked six innings, and three relievers worked an inning apiece for the bullpen’s first scoreless game since May 5.

The bullpen, which successfully protected its first 22 leads this season, had surrendered four of the past five leads it had been handed.

That included a two-run advantage in the ninth inning Monday night that Robert Suarez coughed up by allowing a one-out single and then walking four consecutive batters in a 9-5 loss in the series opener against the Angels.

Wednesday, Suarez set down the Angels in order after Alek Jacob and Adrián Morejón worked their own scoreless innings.

The Padres, who came back to win 6-4 on Fernando Tatis Jr.’s walk-off homer in the ninth Tuesday after the bullpen lost a lead two innings earlier, led from the start and never lost it Wednesday.

They took a 3-0 lead in the first inning when Luis Arraez and Manny Machado hit one-out singles and Xander Bogaerts lined a two-out home run to left field.

The Padres did not get another run off Angels starter Kyle Hendricks or reliever Reid Detmers.

They added on in the eighth when Brandon Lockridge lined a two-out single with the bases loaded against Jose Fermin.

The first-inning bounty, it turned out, would have been enough.

Vásquez continued to attack the strike zone in a way he seemed incapable of just last month.

For the first time in nine starts, he did not walk a batter as he worked his second quality start in a row and third of the season.

The run he gave up in his six innings was on a long fly ball to center field by Taylor Ward in the second inning.

The ball seemed to carry further than Jackson Merrill anticipated, as he went back on it slowly and got to the wall late and made a jump as the ball barely sailed past his glove.

That cut the Padres’ lead to 3-1.

Vásquez would allow just three other hits — a lead-off double in the third inning, a lead-off single in the fifth and a two-out single in the sixth.

Jacob yielded a one-out walk but ended the seventh inning with a double play grounder. Morejón worked a 1-2-3 eighth. Suarez got a pop-up and two strikeouts.

Thus ended a stretch of six consecutive games in which Padres relievers allowed at least three runs, a streak that does not include Saturday’s complete game by starting pitcher Stephen Kolek.

The bullpen allowed 31 runs over 17 ⅔ innings in that span.

Hendricks turned back the clock on the Padres after the first inning.

The 35-year-old right-hander, in his 12th major league season and making his 278th career start, has had success against the Padres — but not in a few years.

The same could be said of his fortunes as a whole.

Hendricks had an ERA under 4.77 once in the previous four seasons. It was 5.92 in 2024, and he entered Wednesday’s game with a 5.30 ERA over seven starts.

The Padres were facing Kyle Hendricks in a uniform other than that of the Cubs for the first time.

Wednesday was his 16th career start against them. He had a 2.40 ERA over the first dozen but had allowed them 12 runs in 11 innings over the past two. They scored nine runs against him in five innings in April 2024.

Wednesday was just his third quality start.

But he clearly still knows how to pitch.

As always when he is on, Hendricks didn’t miss in the middle of the plate much.

Other than to the Padres and those rooting for them, watching him throw 86 mph fastballs and get away with it can be a treat.

“He’s professor-esque,” Mike Shildt said before the game. “I mean, he’s just pinpoint. He’s a pitcher’s pitcher, able to locate, add and subtract, will throw in, gonna cut it a little bit. Just slows everything down a little bit. He knows what he’s doing out there. It’s matter of getting good pitches and not missing your pitch.”