Padres Drop Third Straight in 8-2 Loss to White Sox
Fernando Ramirez
Host · Writer
After a day off on Thursday, the San Diego Padres (19-12) returned to Petco Park and picked up right where they left off in the Chicago Cubs series—struggling offensively.
They fell 8-2 to the Chicago White Sox (15-17), extending their losing streak to three games and dropping four of their last five.
The Padres’ offense has been largely nonexistent, aside from a brief two-run burst in the eighth inning. The lone bright spot was Fernando Tatis Jr., who went 3-for-3 with a triple. He is still searching for his first home run of the season.
Chicago’s offense, which had been underwhelming to start the year, jumped on Padres starter Germán Márquez early.
In the top of the second inning, Márquez walked Colson Montgomery to lead things off, followed by a Chase Meidroth double to right field. With runners on second and third, Sam Antonacci lined a single to right, bringing in Montgomery for a 1-0 lead.
The next batter, Austin Hays, hit a ground ball toward Manny Machado, who threw to second baseman Tatis Jr. for the force out. Tatis Jr. then fired a throw home as Meidroth attempted to score, but it sailed off target with too much velocity, allowing Chicago to take a 2-0 lead.
After a sacrifice fly and three batters later in the inning, Japanese sensation Munetaka Murakami worked a seven-pitch at-bat before launching a 413-foot home run to right field, extending the lead to 6-0. It was Murakami’s 13th home run of the season, the most in MLB so far in 2026.
In the fifth inning, Montgomery jumped on a first-pitch changeup from Márquez and drove it to right-center field for a solo shot, his ninth of the season, pushing the lead to 7-0.
By the bottom of the sixth, San Diego had just one hit, a Tatis Jr. single in the third inning. After a Ramón Laureano groundout, Tatis Jr. ripped a ball to right field and used his speed to stretch it into a triple. However, he was left stranded as Miguel Andújar and Machado popped out in consecutive at-bats.
The Padres showed a brief spark in the eighth inning when Andújar drove in Bryce Johnson, and Machado followed with an RBI single to score Tatis Jr., but that would be all the offense they could muster.
It was that kind of night for San Diego, a six-hit performance, with three of those hits coming from one player.
San Diego also missed an opportunity to take sole possession of the NL West after the Los Angeles Dodgers lost 7-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Padres will look to get back in the win column Saturday night, when Sean Burke (1-2) faces Michael King (3-1) at 5:40 p.m. PT.
