San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt said he’ll trust shortstop Ha-Seong Kim any day of the week defensively.
But one of the best fielders in the major leagues had an off-game that might have cost his team a series win Sunday. Kim’s first two errors of the year led to three unearned runs and a 3-2 loss at San Francisco.
Kim and San Diego will hope for a better result Monday night when the Chicago Cubs come to town to start a three-game series.
“Disappointed about the loss today,” Kim said through an interpreter. “Hopefully, I don’t have things like this going forward. There’s many more games to come, so I’m just going to try to prepare my best for the next game.”
Kim’s wild throw led to the Giants’ first run in the sixth inning, and he dropped the ball in the eighth as he tagged Jorge Soler for what would have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, San Francisco tallied two runs and the Padres fell to 5-7.
Their offense didn’t help matters, either. In the past six games, the Padres have just 15 runs.
They had ample opportunities Sunday, outhitting the Giants 11- 6, but they hit into a pair of double plays and left seven runners on base. That included Jackson Merrill at second in the ninth as pinch-hitter Luis Campusano struck out to end the game.
“Just about execution at the end of the day,” Shildt said.
Yu Darvish (0-1, 2.30 ERA) will hope for better run support and aim for his first win in four starts. The right-hander gave up three runs in seven innings during a 5-2 loss Tuesday to St. Louis. In four career starts against the Cubs, Darvish is 2-2 with a 1.71 ERA, permitting just 12 hits in 26 1/3 innings and striking out 33.
Meanwhile, Chicago enters Monday’s matchup with six wins in the past seven games, including an 8-1 victory Sunday over the Los Angeles Dodgers in a rain-delayed affair at Wrigley Field. The Cubs have been scoring in bunches in this stretch, averaging 7.6 runs per game.
Sunday’s stars were former Dodgers farmhand Michael Busch, who drilled a three-run double to get the Cubs started in the first inning, and Cody Bellinger, who touched his old team for his second homer of the year in the sixth inning.
“Our depth is impressive,” Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “We have really quality at-bats and do so in different ways from different guys.”
While first-year manager Craig Counsell calls the team’s current pace unsustainable, hitting coach Dustin Kelly says this Cubs team is very similar to the 2023 team that ranked sixth in the majors in runs scored.
“You don’t really know what the identity of every team is going to be, but I think (the first games) are a really good indication of like, ‘This is who we are,'” Kelly said.
Right-hander Javier Assad (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his second start of the year for Chicago, hoping for the same success as his first start. He tossed six scoreless innings Tuesday in a 12-2 rout of Colorado, allowing four hits and striking out five.
Assad has pitched just once against San Diego, allowing a run in two innings of relief on three hits and three walks last June.
