SAN DIEGO — The Padres traded for one of the most dominant closers of the era earlier this month — and somehow they still have a closer problem.
Josh Hader was roughed up again on Friday night at Petco Park, as the Padres let another game get away from them in the ninth inning. The Nationals scored three times off the struggling left-hander to beat the Padres, 6-3, at Petco Park, marking the third straight outing in which Hader has allowed either the tying or winning runs to score.
The Padres, needing to shore up the back end of their bullpen, swung a blockbuster trade to acquire Hader a day before the Trade Deadline. Since then, Hader has made five appearances and has allowed six runs over 3 1/3 innings.
“There’s always going to be an obstacle in this game that you’re going to have to go over,” Hader said. “That’s one of the things right now — obviously, this obstacle is hitting a little bit harder than most. But that’s why we play this game. … You’ve got two options: You can give up and fold, or you can figure it out and move forward.”
The Padres don’t have much leeway for Hader to figure things out on the fly. They sit a single game ahead of the Brewers, Hader’s former team, for the final place in the National League Wild Card race.
In the long run, San Diego envisions Hader closing big games in September and — if all goes well — deep into October. But in the short run, is there some benefit to getting Hader a softer landing, outside of the closer role? In the immediate aftermath of one of his team’s toughest losses of the season, manager Bob Melvin said he needed some time to ruminate on that question.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you right now,” Melvin said. “We’ll consider everything. We need to talk to all parties involved.”
A four-time All-Star with 125 career saves, Hader has quite the ninth-inning track record to fall back on. As would befit a closer of his caliber, he said he wants the ball.
“Obviously, you’ve got to be in the trenches to move forward,” Hader said. “Hopefully, that’s the case — I get the opportunities to be in there, and continue to go from there.”
The issue has been, almost entirely, command-based. Hader’s 8.5% walk rate in Milwaukee has jumped to 22.7% in his short stint with the Padres. Plus, he has hit a pair of batters and has thrown two wild pitches.
Hader says his lack of command stems mostly from a mechanical issue in which he’s “too rotational.” He’s quick to acknowledge it needs to be fixed — and fast.
“There’s a standard that I hold myself to,” Hader said. “And that’s not result-based. But it’s more about executing pitches and getting into a place where I feel dominant. … At the end of the day, I’m not executing the pitches. When I’m dominant, I’m executing pitches.”
Friday marked the second consecutive night that Hader entered a tie game in the ninth inning. In Thursday’s defeat, he allowed a pair of inherited runners to score. This time, Hader was afforded a clean inning to work with — and he began it, ominously enough, by walking Victor Robles, the Nationals’ No. 9 hitter.
Things spiraled from there. The next hitter, Lane Thomas, hit a swinging bunt in front of the mound, and Hader scrambled to make a play. His throw sailed into right field, and by the time Juan Soto tracked it down and threw it in, the Nationals had taken the lead. Thomas was standing on third base.
“I didn’t set my feet and throw the ball,” Hader said. “When you do a PFP, you’ve got to slow the play down and really move your body towards the target. That’s one of the things I didn’t do.”
Three pitches later, Hader grooved a fastball that rookie Alex Call sent into the first row in left-center field, giving the Nationals a 6-3 lead. Melvin emerged from the top step of the dugout, as boos rained down on Hader.
Of course, the Padres’ current issues run much deeper than merely the closer spot. Aside from Manny Machado, they aren’t getting much offense these days. Machado tied the game in the fifth with an opposite-field double off the top of the wall. He advanced to third on a wild pitch with one out — and was stranded there.
The Padres didn’t record a hit the rest of the night, and when Jurickson Profar flied out to end it, those boos — generally a rarity at Petco Park — grew even louder.
“When you play bad and you have a lot of people who are passionate about their team, it happens,” Melvin said. “We have to play better.”
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