SF Giants fall to Padres in first battle vs. NL West opponent this season

SAN DIEGO — There is no division in baseball that can hold a candle to the NL West. Four teams possess playoff aspirations, if not World Series ambitions. The Rockies also happen to exist.

The Giants, more than a month into the season, got their first chance to dance with a division foe on Tuesday night. The opponent was the Padres. The stage was Petco Park on Tony Gwynn bobblehead night. The announced attendance was 47,345, the second-largest in ballpark history.

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San Francisco, a team that excels at playing behind the eight ball, fell into a hole early en route to a 7-4 loss. San Diego, which showcased its best arms, affirmed why its October itinerary accounts for playoff baseball. The Giants lost the first of what will be 39 total rounds against the Padres, Dodgers and Diamondbacks. They welcome the kerfuffles and scraps and spars that lie ahead.

“We know it’s going to be a challenge,” said shortstop Willy Adames. “This whole division, I feel, is the best division in baseball. There’s a lot of talent on this side. Obviously, every time we face the Padres or the D-backs or the Dodgers … it’s going to be fight. It’s going to be a battle. We have to play better baseball. We have to be better than than them. That’s what we’re going to try to do tomorrow.”

For San Francisco, playing better baseball — especially against a team of San Diego’s caliber — entails avoiding early deficits.

Before the capacity crowd got comfortable, Logan Webb allowed a trifecta of runs in the first and put the Giants in a 3-0 deficit, setting the stage for an evening where he allowed a season-high five earned runs over five innings. But as would be the case all night, misfortune would be at play.

Webb recorded two quick outs but allowed a sharp single to Manny Machado then walked Gavin Sheets. Of the walk, Webb said it “ruined the inning from there on out.”

Following the free pass, Xander Bogaerts snuck a single through the middle on a well-placed inside sinker to drive in Machado. Jose Iglesias added on by lunged at an outside sweeper, lifted it to right field to drive in two runs of his own.

The dinks and doinks became a theme. Webb allowed two more soft hits in the second: a broken-bat single to Elias Díaz at 71.6 mph, and a bloop single to Luis Arraez that fell in front of Mike Yastrzemski. The fourth inning brought even more soft contact that found grass — and generated runs.

Jason Heyward led off with a 76.5 mph, one that dropped in front of left fielder Heliot Ramos and rolled past him when he was unable to stop the ball. Díaz followed Heyward by poking another softly-hit ball through the infield clocking in at 72.0 mph. Those back-to-back hits by Heyward and Díaz set the stage for a sacrifice fly by Arraez and an RBI single from Machado, putting five runs on Webb’s docket and an early end to his night. Webb allowed a season-high nine hits, but four registered at under 80 mph.

“Baseball happens,” Webb said. “I didn’t expect tonight to go the way it did. It’s crazy. You look back at games and there’s a lot of stuff you look back at and you’re like, ‘Man, I wish I didn’t throw that.’ Honestly, tonight, I don’t think there’s many pitches I would take back. Kind of just the way the ball fell.”

Added Adames: “They got lucky today against Webby. He was very unlucky. Got a lot of bloopers their way. Those days are going to happen. We’re going to continue to battle until the end. We’re going to come tomorrow and try to get that win and even the series up and go back home and try to sweep the Rockies — or win the series, at least.”

The Giants, indeed, continued to battle. Adames put the Giants on the board with a solo homer in the fourth, his second home run of the season. Two innings later, Adames kickstarted a three-run sixth inning with a leadoff double. Adames scored on Jung Hoo Lee’s single, and the struggling LaMonte Wade Jr. contributed a much-needed two-run double that shrunk the Padres’ lead to 5-4.

That’s as far as their comeback efforts would go. Randy Rodríguez allowed his first two runs of the year in the seventh as Bogaerts lined a two-run shot over the left-field lead, and that three-run lead was more than enough for San Diego’s elite bullpen.

The Giants are left with 38 more opportunities to spar with this division’s playoff hopefuls, their next opportunity being Wednesday afternoon to conclude a brief two-games. The Padres landed the first blow; the following hours will reveal if the Giants have a counter.

“People are starting to see our identity,” Adames said. “We’re not going to back up from anybody. We’re going to continue to battle. … We’re going to come everywhere and fight. Like I said in spring training, we’re in a better position than people think we are. I’m saying it again today because I know the talent we have here. I know the confidence we have here. We’re going to continue to try to be better every day and continue to win games.”