Padres don't get a lift from Ray, fall another game back with loss to Astros

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Aug 8, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — The great causes for hope have been a letdown so far.

Robbie Ray on Friday night became the second of the two starting pitchers the San Diego Padres acquired at the trade deadline to struggle in his debut, and the opener of a six-game homestand ended with a 6-3 defeat by the Houston Astros.

The Padres made a game of it after Ray’s first start for the Padres looked a lot like the starts by several of the team’s pitchers this season.

Down 4-0 after four innings, the Padres pulled to within a run by scoring twice in the third on a single by Manny Machado, a triple by Jackson Merrill and Gavin Sheets’ double play grounder and again in the fourth on Fernando Tatis Jr.’s homer.

Yuki Matsui immediately surrendered Cam Smith’s second home run of the game leading off the top of the sixth inning to put the Astros back up by two.

The Padres had two on with two outs in the sixth and loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh before going down in order in the final two innings while the Astros added a run against Wandy Peralta in the eighth.

Even had they won and been able to remain a game back in the race for the final National League playoff spot, it would not have changed the reality that there will be a measure of anxiety until Casey Mize and Ray take the mound for their next starts with the Padres.

Ray allowing four runs on seven hits and five walks in five innings was just his worst outing in two months. So that was better than the career-worst start by Casey Mize (eight runs on nine hits in 31/3 innings) on Wednesday in Arizona.

Neither outing was what the Padres anticipated when they invested more than $6 million to pay the two veteran pitchers’ salaries for the rest of the season, as well as sent three of their top 10 prospects to the Giants (for Ray) and Tigers (for Mize).

The Padres on Friday sent Ray to the same mound from which he held them to a run in six innings eight days earlier.

Ray’s start for the Giants on July 30 was a continuation of a run in which he had the major league’s lowest ERA, a 1.09 mark over eight games since June 16.

His Friday began as efficiently as it possibly could.

Two pitches in, he had two outs.

Then came 11 pitches that resulted in the Astros loading the bases on a double and two walks.

Two pitches later, he got the third out. But that would be the last scoreless inning he had until he stranded Jose Altuve following a leadoff double in the fifth inning.

Ray’s first run allowed came when he left an 0-1 sinker in the heart of the strike zone and lined it over the wall in left field to start the second inning.

It was just the third home run Ray had allowed in 12 games.

The Astros went up 3-0 in the third, though it was somewhat remarkably not worse after both runs scored before an out was made.

But after starting the inning by walking a batter, giving up a single, walking another batter and giving up another single, Ray got a double play grounder and a comebacker to the mound.

A double by Jake Meyers, walk by Jeremy Peña and single by Yordan Alvarez made it 4-0 in the fourth.

Eventually, the offense that by many measures has been one of the major leagues’ best over the past month got to Astros Ronel Blanco, who was pulled after Tatis launched his 10th home run of the season, a 3-1 slider hung over the middle, to the second balcony of the Western Metal building.

Five relievers held the Padres scoreless the rest of the way, with former Padres closer Josh Hader getting the save with a 1-2-3 ninth.