Buehler’s latest stumble continues, and Padres’ bats go quiet in 8-0 loss to the Diamondbacks

Walker Buehler looked like he was searching for something right from the early innings, and the San Diego Padres couldn’t supply the answers. In the opener of a four-game series, Buehler had another difficult start and the Padres fell 8-0 to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The rough night for San Diego’s starter was reflected quickly in the scoreboard. Buehler allowed seven runs on seven hits over five innings, and one swing defined the middle of the game. In a four-run third inning, Max Kepler hit a three-run home run, turning a troubled outing into a rout. The release from MLB also noted that Buehler committed the first of two Padres errors in a two-run first inning.

If Buehler’s command was off, the Padres’ offense offered little resistance to the Diamondbacks’ attack. San Diego mustered eight singles and advanced only one runner to second base across the game. The combination left the Padres unable to put sustained pressure on Arizona’s pitching, even after having snapped an extended skid the previous time out.

Manager Craig Stammen summed up the problem in plain terms after the loss, saying, “That didn’t look good, feel good, taste good. We’ve got to wash that off real quick and get back at it,” according to the MLB report. Stammen also pointed to the lack of sharpness from Buehler’s early pitches, along with defensive and situational issues that helped create damage. He noted that Buehler was “leaving balls over the plate,” and the report described “seeing-eye singles” and “a couple misplays in the first inning,” before the home run widened the gap.

The context matters because the Padres entered the series tied for second in the NL West, but with the season’s postseason picture still unsettled. MLB’s report placed Arizona and San Diego 14 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, and four games out of the final NL wild-card spot at the time. After this 8-0 loss, San Diego moved back to third place in the division and to two games under.500, the same report noting it had been shut out for the second time in three games.

This start extended a recent stretch that has raised questions about consistency. MLB reported that Buehler has allowed 16 earned runs in his last two starts. It also referenced his prior outing, when he took the loss in San Diego’s 23-3 defeat to the Chicago Cubs, allowing nine runs and seven hits in four innings, his shortest start since April 22.

For the Padres, the immediate priority is simple. With a four-game series against Arizona starting with a blanking, they need to break the pattern of one-run innings turning into multi-run innings, and they need their offense to convert singles into scoring chances rather than stalling with runners stranded early and often.

Over the next three games, attention will likely fall on whether San Diego can create more traffic on the bases and whether the starting rotation can stabilize after back-to-back rough results from Buehler. Even with one game behind them, the standings stakes are close enough that every inning still has weight in the wild-card and division race.