Fill-in closer Matsui can’t secure elusive sweep for Padres
KANSAS CITY — The Padres were on the verge of their first series sweep in 2024. But there was one problem and it was a big one.
Padres’ closer Robert Suarez wasn’t available Sunday after working the previous two games, closing out the Royals in each of them. Thus, San Diego manager Mike Shildt turned to left-hander Yuki Matsui and asked him to hold a two-run lead in the ninth.
Matsui couldn’t. The Royals needed just four batters to score three runs in the ninth, forcing the Padres to absorb a stinging 4-3 defeat that left them 0-5 in games that would have secured a sweep.
“Pretty much right as we scripted it, except for the very end,” Shildt said.
Being a Major League closer is a tough job description and Matsui felt he wasn’t on point with his pitches on Sunday. He had pitched scoreless baseball in his previous seven outings, but not as a closer.
“I feel bad for the team,” Matsui said through a translator. “My location was not there today. So, I feel bad for them.”
In retrospect, the Padres had to be thinking back to Friday night when they entered the ninth inning with an eight-run lead. The Royals put on a furious rally that forced Shildt to use Suarez, and then Suarez came in again on Saturday for his 17th save in as many tries.
While the Padres wound up winning on Friday, that 11-8 victory came at the expense of not having Suarez available on Sunday.
READ MORE:
White Sox PBP John Schriffen loses it after play at plate
One year after a 61-101 finish, their third-worst season in franchise history, the Sox entered June at 15-44, a pace that would see them finish the season 42-120, which would make them just the third team ever to lose 120 games in a season and the first since the 1962 New York Mets
Compounding matters, beloved play-by-play man Jason Benetti left the team to take the same role with the Detroit Tigers over the offseason.
The White Sox hired John Schriffen to replace Benetti, and early returns have been a mixed bag. Schriffen has gotten into a feud with various 670 The Score hosts who he feels are too critical of him, and he’s gone out of his way to let the hosts know, even during White Sox broadcasts.
During Sunday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers, White Sox second baseman Tommy Pham was called out at the plate after colliding with Milwaukee catcher William Contreras, who started yelling at Pham.
