BALTIMORE — For the first time in more than a week, the televisions were off and the music was low in the visitors clubhouse.
And in the corner of the room, Jake Cronenworth sat for several minutes staring into his locker.
“Emotional game,” he said. “We all felt like we could bring ourselves back. We had a chance to win. It doesn’t happen, you know, that’s tough, no matter what kind of streak you’re on.”
The Padres fought to make the ending better, but in the end they fell just short in an 8-6 loss to the Orioles to fall just short of completing the best road trip in franchise history.
It stung in the moment to scrape back from a 6-0 deficit. But really, the Padres’ longest trip of the season could hardly have ended up being better.
“Overall, road trip was outstanding,” Cronenworth said. “… Great way to start the second half.”
Indeed. The loss provided a bookend to a 7-2 run through Cleveland, Washington and Baltimore.
The Padres embarked on the 10-day trek coming out of the All-Star break having dropped six of seven and lost 7-0 to the Guardians to start the trip.
Seven victories followed, and on Sunday morning they were a season-high seven games over .500 and in a virtual tie with the Braves for the National League’s top wild-card playoff spot.
Around a sweep of the Nationals, the Padres ended up taking two of three from the Guardians and Orioles, who have the second- and third-best record in the major leagues, respectively.
The Padres were one win away from what would have been the best winning percentage on a road trip of at least nine games in franchise history.
It seemed any aspirations about achieving that had evaporated in the third inning, as Randy Vásquez’s run of success ended emphatically when the Orioles scored four runs before he recorded an out and then brought in two of the runners he left to reliever Enyel De Los Santos to take a 6-0 lead.
All the runs were charged to Vásquez, who walked three and allowed three singles in that inning. He had a 1.71 ERA and had walked six batters over his previous five starts.
The Padres, who earlier this season came back from eight down to win, were not buried.
They scored five runs between the fifth and sixth innings and, after seeing their deficit swell to three in the bottom of the eighth inning, had the tying run on base in the top of the ninth.
“We’re always in it,” Xander Bogaerts said. “I think that’s the main sign for me, being on really good teams. That’s the character of a really good team.”
Jackson Merrill led off the fifth inning with a double, went to third on David Peralta’s infield single and scored on Ha-Seong Kim’s double. That also moved Peralta to third, and he scored when Kyle Higashioka poked a single to left field.
Luis Arraez’s double-play grounder emptied the bases before Jurickson Profar walked. That was the end of the day for Orioles starter Albert Suarez, the brother of Padres closer Robert Suarez.
Right-hander Jacob Webb came in and ended the inning by striking out Cronenworth.
The Padres got to within one run in the sixth when Manny Machado led off with a single, and Bogaerts sent a Webb changeup 400 feet and over the tall wall in left field.
The Orioles added two runs to their lead off Jeremiah Estrada and Adrián Morejón in the bottom of the eighth.
That made what happened in the ninth especially tough, as the Padres got the potential tying run on base against Yennier Cano.
Peralta and Kim began the inning with infield singles, and Arraez’s one-out single loaded the bases. Profar’s grounder up the middle resulted in Tyler Wade, pinch-running for Arraez, being out at second base and Peralta scoring. Cronenworth followed with a groundout to second base.
“Could have easily, the last day of a 10-day trip (that was) very fruitful, said ‘We’ve got ours, we’re good. Down 6-0, let’s just kind of go through the motions,’ ” manager Mike Shildt said. “This group has none of that. It has zero of that in them. … There was not a person in that dugout that didn’t think we were going to come back and win that game. And it’s a really special trait.”
