Xander Bogaerts stays hot, rest of Padres cold in loss to Cubs

Xander Bogaerts lingered at home plate, watching a high drive to left field in the second inning bend toward the foul line. The ball stayed fair long enough to drop into the third level of the Western Metal Supply Co. building for a team-leading fifth home run.

The rest of the Padres' stars were MIA on Tuesday.

Calf cramping forced Manny Machado to the bench, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill were both hitless and Bogaerts didn't get nearly enough help in an 8-3 loss to the Cubs in front of a sellout crowd of 40,106 at Petco Park.

Machado was beginning to heat up after two homers on Sunday in Mexico City and a three-hit game on Monday before his exit after six innings in the series opener. He is day-to-day.

Meantime, Tatis is still searching for his first home run of the season and Merrill began Tuesday looking for his first extra-base hit in 10 games.

Of the team's four highest-paid players, Bogaerts has been the most consistent throughout the team's 19-10 start to the season.

He is hitting .286/.364/.448 to start his fourth year in San Diego and had a .901 OPS over his last six games before lofting a second-inning homer into third deck of the Western Metal Supply Co. building to shave the Cubs' lead to 2-1.

Bogaerts didn't hit his first home run last year until April 29 and didn't get his fifth until June 29.

Two innings after his home run, Bogaerts was twice rung up by looking by plate umpire Dan Bellino only to have ABS challenges overturn the calls. Bogaerts ultimately walked, swiped second base and tied the game at 2-2 on Ty France's single to center. Luis Campusano's two-out single in the sixth plated the Padres' third run, but left-hander Hoby Milner replaced Edward Cabrera and struck out switch-hitter Bryce Johnson with runners on first and third.

Padres right-hander Walker Buehler battled command throughout the start, throwing nearly as many balls (44) as strikes (48) before he was pulled one out shy of completing the fifth inning.

He even recorded the first two outs of the fifth before allowing a single to Seiya Suzuki and hitting Ian Happ with a knuckle curve that bounced in the dirt, forcing Padres manager Craig Stammen to bring in left-hander Kyle Hart to face the left-handed-hitting Michael Busch.

Hart struck out Busch, but the left-hander allowed a walk and a hit in the sixth and both runners scored on Nico Hoerner's double off reliever David Morgan.

Left-hander Wandy Peralta allowed an inherited run from Morgan to score in the seventh inning before serving up a three-run homer to Pete Crow-Armstrong as the Cubs opened an 8-3 lead.

Buehler struck out four and allowed two runs on three hits and three walks in 4⅔ innings, with the only damage crossing the plate in the second inning on Dansby Swanson's double to left-center.

That hit, naturally, followed free passes to Happ and Busch to start the inning. Swanson exited the game after the inning with a left glute cramp after Buehler stranded him at third base to keep the Padres' deficit manageable at 2-0.

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