Final: Padres 3, Red Sox 1

With a chance to pull within five games of the second wild card spot, the Red Sox came up short in their series finale with San Diego, losing 3-1.

The Red Sox managed just four hits all afternoon, with one of those being a drag bunt. The only Sox run came on a solo homer by J.D. Martinez in the fourth inning.

Starter Brian Johnson got knocked around for three runs in the first and those stood up for the Padres after the Boston bullpen contributed five shutout innings.

WHO: Red Sox (70-61) vs. San Diego Padres (59-69)
WHEN: 4:10 p.m.
WHERE: Petco Park
SERIES TO DATE: Boston 2-0
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Brian Johnson (1-2, 6.58) vs. LHP Joey Lucchesi (8-7, 4.20)
TV/RADIO: NESN/WEEI 93.7 FM

IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS

6:44   Huge at-bat, with the game on the line, and Andres Munoz wins the matchup, power vs. power, against Martinez, who, on a 2-and-2 pitch, can't check his swing, leaving runners at the corners.

5:43   As great a season as he's having, Rafael Devers is prone to some rough stretches. He's currently 0-for-10 and goes down on three pitches there, stranding two baserunners. He's left five runners on base in the last two games.

5:36   Perfectly executed drag bunt from pinch-hitter Marco Hernandez. I take back what I wrote last night - apparently, there are some players who can bunt.

5:24   Your basic miraculous Jackie Bradley Jr. catch in center, who times everything perfectly, bracing himself on the fence to take extra bases away from Luis Urias.

5:20  The Red Sox first hit of the afternoon in not a cheap one - a homer down the left field on a changeup left over the middle of the plate by J.D. Martinez. The Sox have now homered in 16 straight games.

5:14   Seems like the Padres ran out of time to call for a replay challenge. Strange. What was the debate? There's a run at stake on a bang-bang play at home. To me you have automatically ask for that to be looked at.

5:12   Nice execution by the Red Sox, who cut down a run at the plate with J.D. Martinez to Xander Bogaerts to Christian Vazquez, who slaps a tag on Eric Hosmer trying to score all the way from first on a double in the left field corner. Bogaerts, in particular, seems to always make a strong relay throw home.

5:00  Red Sox scored 16 runs in the first two games but don't have a hit through the first three innings.

4:23 Another rough first inning for Brian Johnson, who was hit around last Tuesday early by the Phillies before settling down some. Johnson has faced three hitters - double, single and two-run homer. On the homer, Johnson hung a curveball to Manny Machado.

LINEUPS:



RED SOX

Betts RF
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Martinez LF
Travis 1B
Vazquez C
Bradley Jr. CF
Owings 2B
Johnson P

PADRES

Margot CF
Mejia LF
Machado 3b
Renfroe RF
Hosmer 1b
France 2B
Urias SS
Hedges C
Lucchesi P

WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox have won two straight and seven of nine....The Sox have homered in 15 straight games, the fifth-longest streak in their history...They've also homered in 28 of 29 games...In the last 14 games, 75 of the last 50 hits the Red  Sox have collected have gone for extra-base hits...Since that run began, on Aug. 8, they're slugging .565...The Sox have won four straight on the road and have the fourth-best winning percentage away from home at .571 (36-27)...Since beginning the year at 3-10 on the road, they've since gone 33-17 for a .660 winning percentage that is tops in the game...The Sox have won each of the last four series in San Diego -- in 2002, 2007, 2016 and the current visit.....On Saturday night, the Red Sox bullpen allowed just two runs over six innings; the relievers have allowed only five earned runs in the last 35.1 innings, while holding hitters to a .412 OPS with no homers in that span...Since July 24, the Sox bullpen has the lowest ERA in the game at 2.77 while holding hitters to a .194 batting average, also the lowest in the game....Brandon Workman has gone unscored in 49 appearances. Saturday night marked the 39th time that he allowed neither a hit or a run....He hasn't allowed a homer to the last 160 batters...He leads the majors with a .125 batting average against, slugging percentage allowed (.177) and OPS (.438)...Mookie Betts has a nine-game hitting streak. In the last 47 games since the start of July, he's hitting .330 with a .990 OPS...Thirteen of his last 18 hits have gone for extra bases....With three homers, Xander Bogaerts could become the fourth Red Sox shortstop to have 30 homers in a season. The others: Nomar Garciaparra (twice); Vern Stephens (twice) and Rico Petrocelli….Jackie Bradley Jr. has four homers in his last eight games....Rafael Devers is hitless in his last seven at-bats...J.D. Martinez has a three-game hitting streak and over his last 30 games, is slashing .397/.471/.767...Brian Johnson is facing the Padres for the first time in his career.....In six starts this season, he has a 4.50 ERA...The Sox are 18-7 in his 25 career starts......Chris Owings is the only Red Sox player who has faced Joey Lucchesi (1-for-10).