Padres come back before dropping game to Giants; two players hurt

Blake Snell left early again.

Then some different stuff happened.

After starting Friday night even more frigid than the air on San Francisco Bay, the Padres offense made sure Snell wouldn’t be the loser. But the bullpen’s rare failing doomed the Padres to a 5-4 loss to the Giants. (Box score.)

The loss did not cut as deep as it might have.

Padres catcher Austin Nola, whose left hand swelled after he was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning, could be available to catch Saturday after X-rays revealed no broken bones in the left hand that swelled up after absorbing a curveball from Zack Littell. Manager Jayce Tingler said the swelling was due to a broken blood vessel.

The Padres will await tests on reliever Keone Kela, who was pulled two pitches after allowing Austin Slater’s decisive seventh-inning home run on a 93 mph fastball. Kela, who Tingler said was experiencing forearm tightness, seemed uncomfortable during and after a few pitches, including his final one, a 90 mph fastball that was about 5 mph below his average.

With the win, the Giants (19-13) increased their lead in the National League West to 1½ games over the second-place Padres (18-15).

Snell departed with two outs in the fifth inning having thrown 95 pitches, and Austin Adams allowed both runners he inherited to score, hitting a batter to load the bases and yielding a single by Evan Longoria that made it 4-0. It was the first hit Adams had allowed in nine games (6 2/3 innings).

A pair of two-run homers, by Trent Grisham and Eric Hosmer, tied the game 4-4 in the sixth inning. It was the first time since opening day the Padres hit more than one home run in an inning.

The only hit Snell allowed was a two-run homer to Buster Posey with two outs in the third inning. Posey entered the game batting .394 with seven home runs. The real problem was Snell began the inning by walking Giants pitcher Anthony DeSclafani.

Snell’s six walks were one shy of his career high. His second walk of the fifth inning was the end for him.

“I’m just batting myself,” Snell said. “… My stuff felt good. Just got to figure it out. Too many walks, just frustrating game overall.”

Friday was the third time Snell failed to complete five innings in his seven starts with the Padres. His season high is 5 1/3 innings.

He has not pitched a full six innings since July 21, 2019, a span of 27 starts that includes those he has made in the postseason.

Grisham sliced the Giants’ lead in half with a two-run home run over the center field wall. That followed Jorge Mateo’s pinch-hit single, which was just the Padres’ second hit off DeSclafani.

Manny Machado’s double drove DeSclafani from the game, and Hosmer followed with his blast to right-center off Sam Selman.

“It was good to see after we got down four, I liked the way the guys battled and got back in the game,” Tingler said. “I thought there were some good signs.”

The Padres sent nine batters to the plate in the sixth, but their only baserunner after that was Jake Cronenworth, who was stranded after a lead-off walk in the ninth.

Said Tingler: “If we can put another inning or two together maybe it’s a different story tonight.”