Juan Soto: Padres ‘just give up’ in four-game sweep to Mariners

San Diego Padres star Juan Soto said his teammates “just give up” after a four-game losing streak

The Padres appear to have hit rock bottom, and the All-Star unleashed his frustration after the team was swept by the Seattle Mariners in a four-game series Wednesday night. 

The Padres fell to 55-60 on the year, 13 games out of first place in the NL West.

“We’ve got to play as a team,” Soto said, via CBS Sports. “We’ve got to go out there [and] grind every day. Grind every at-bat. … It’s been really inconsistent. Some days we do, some days we don’t. We gotta do it every day. Days like this series, we just give up. Like, literally, we just give up instead of keep grinding, keep pushing. We’ve got to forget about yesterday and keep moving.”

The loss also put the Padres further down in the National League wild-card race. They are 4½ games out of the third and final spot with multiple teams close in the race. 

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It was a close game with the Mariners, as Padres ace Yu Darvish delivered six stellar innings without allowing an earned run. San Diego had a 1-0 lead, but the wheels fell off in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Cal Raleigh blasted a three-run homer that turned the tides of the game quickly. The Padres couldn’t muster more than the one run before that. The lead for the Mariners quickly grew to 6-1 by the time the inning was finished, and like Soto said, it felt like the Padres gave up. 

It’s been a disappointing season for a team with playoff expectations. 

The New York Mets, New York Yankees and Padres are the top three teams in total payroll for 2023. The Mets sold at the trade deadline with the hopes of perhaps competing in 2024, while the Yankees are still on the outside looking in for a wild-card spot like the Padres. 

In his first full season with the Padres, Soto has been doing his job with a .270/.413/.513 slash line with 24 homers and 73 RBIs. He also leads the majors with 99 walks, consistently delivering good at-bats.