Padres can't support JP Sears' solid outing, lose series opener to Braves

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jul 20, 2026

Published in Baseball

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ATLANTA — Some key players have been injured. Some key players have been inefficient.

But if there is one trait that defines the San Diego Padres and will likely doom the Padres, it is inconsistency.

A day after scoring 19 runs, they scored two.

In a 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves, it was entirely on-brand for the 2026 Padres too that they could not adequately support a fine performance by starting pitcher JP Sears, who departed after five innings with the Padres trailing 2-1.

Manny Machado’s home run in the fourth inning gave the Padres a 1-0 lead.

Sears had allowed just a single and faced the minimum 13 batters when Michael Harris II tied the game with a home run that sailed just beyond the tall wall in right field with one out in the fifth.

It appeared Sears got a groundout by Mauricio Dubón on the next pitch, but Dubón’s swing clipped catcher Freddy Fermin’s glove, and he was awarded first base.

Joey Bart followed by lining a ball that whizzed over third base and then skidded in foul territory to the base of a wall that juts perpendicular to the infield. There, the ball simply died on the dirt as left fielder Gavin Sheets ran to pick it up but had no chance to get Dubón at home.

Sears ended the inning with a groundout and a strikeout.

He had thrown just 55 pitches to that point, but he had also gone through the batting order twice, and opposing hitters are 5 for 14 with a double and two home runs when facing him a third time in a game this season.

So, as has been the case more often than he would like, Padres manager Craig Stammen made the decision to go to his bullpen before he would have liked.

Ozzie Albies’ one-out home run off Wandy Peralta pushed the Braves’ lead to 3-1.

Ty France ended Braves starter Bryce Elder’s night with a home run leading off the seventh.

Pinch-hitter Luis Rengifo singled immediately after France’s homer but ended up on third after groundouts by Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth, a walk by pinch-hitter Luis Campusano and Sung-Mun Song’s fly-ball out.

Rengifo’s one-out single in the ninth inning gave the Padres their lone baserunner in the final two innings, as they fell to 49-51 after 100 games.

A day after getting 19 hits and going 8 for 18 with runners in scoring position in a 19-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals, the Padres had seven hits and none in three at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Such a night has often come on the relatively rare occasion they get a good start.

They are 6-6 when their starting pitcher goes exactly five innings and allows two runs, significantly worse than the .601 winning percentage the other 29 teams have in such games.

They fell to an MLB-worst 5-11 when allowing three total runs.

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