SEATTLE -- The first six innings Wednesday night at T-Mobile Park belonged to Bryan Woo. In the seventh, the Seattle Mariners starter was upstaged by the two-way prowess of Fernando Tatis Jr. For the visiting team, the final outcome still highlighted a developing predicament.
The past few weeks have featured plenty of moments of brilliance. They also have put a squeeze on the San Diego Padres.
Wednesday's 5-2 loss actually featured a lack of enough pressure, as the typically sure-handed Jake Cronenworth was ruled via replay review to have failed to catch and control the ball on a low throw to second base. Cronenworth's error in the bottom of the third prevented a potential inning-ending double play, allowed the Mariners to load the bases and led to three runs off Padres starter Michael King, who threw an additional 19 pitches after the defensive blunder.
That ended up comprising the difference in a game that saw Tatis dominate the seventh inning, breaking up a perfect game for Woo with a missile of a home run before robbing Randy Arozarena of a solo shot with a leaping catch at the right-field wall. Despite those standout moments, San Diego dropped behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the race for the National League's top wild-card spot for the first time since Sept. 1. Only 2 1/2 games separate the Padres from the Atlanta Braves, the first team below the postseason cut line.
San Diego is tied with Arizona for baseball's best record since the All-Star break; both teams have gone 33-16 in the second half. But the Padres are a pedestrian 13-12 in their last 25 games, a stretch that has included noticeable advancements for other clubs. In an era of constant social media alerts, the margin for error feels as thin as ever.
"I personally don't have much social media," Cronenworth said. "That helps. ... But, I mean, every stadium has got a scoreboard somewhere in the outfield that provides updates. It is what it is, but I think our group's done a great job and they'll continue to do it -- stay focused on that game and what we have to do."
That does not preclude the possibility of missteps on the field. King entered Wednesday as one of the most productive starters in baseball since early May. Then he exacerbated the damage in the bottom of the third. Shortly before Cronenworth's error, the right-hander issued a walk to the Mariners' nine-hole hitter. He proceeded to hit Seattle's leadoff man. King otherwise pitched well -- he was charged with only one earned run over his five innings -- but the 33-pitch frame shortened his outing.
"Couple pitches I wish I had back," he said.
Woo, on the other hand, was ruthlessly efficient. The second-year big leaguer retired the first 19 batters he faced, stymying the Padres with his uncommon combination of a low arm slot and riding fastball. As he has throughout his young career, he leaned heavily on that pitch. And it worked for six innings.
"To do that against this lineup's saying something," Padres manager Mike Shildt said. "He did a really nice job."
The seventh brought a welcome adjustment. Tatis jumped all over a heater that ran in on him, deploying lightning-quick hands on a line drive that left his bat at 115.6 mph. It was his second home run in two days and San Diego's hardest-hit home run this season.
"I saw (Woo) being aggressive," Tatis said. "I told myself I got to be more aggressive than him."
In the bottom of the inning, Tatis again made striking use of his physicality.
"I saw it off the bat," he said of Arozarena's deep drive. "I knew it was gonna be a close one, and I just let my abilities play."
The Padres would be well-served to adopt a similar approach over the final 15 games of the regular season. Tatis' recent return from a 10-week stint on the injured list has meant the reintroduction of a dynamic force in the lineup and amid a relatively middling defense. That should give the entire team greater confidence.
The standings, meanwhile, should give them reason to think. But not too hard.
"It's in everybody's minds," King said. "Every time we're watching games, we'd rather watch guys that are ahead of us or close behind or whatever. But, still, baseball's baseball."
"No one's naive to the scoreboards, and no one's naive to other games," Shildt said. "But I am very confident and comfortable where our club is relative to the right mindset. It's a real dangerous thing to try to escape to spend your mental energy and time worried about something you can't control."
Tatis said: "We just got to keep playing the way we had and keep our heads up with that winning mentality that this team has had all year."
Wednesday still reinforced the critical nature of every remaining moment. Before the game, the Padres optioned Luis Campusano to Triple A for the first time in two years. Campusano, 25, had begun this season as the club's starting catcher, only to become a liability on both sides of the ball. Veteran newcomer Elias Díaz will now serve as the primary backup to Kyle Higashioka. That might help marginally as San Diego seeks its first 90-win season since 2010.
That should be enough -- and maybe more than enough -- to get into the postseason. To reach that mark, the Padres must win at least eight of their final 15 games. A series split with the pitching-rich Mariners, then, was not a disaster. But it also served as a reminder.
Tightening up now would lead to the worst kind of outcome. As always, but more than ever, there isn't much use in fixating on the out-of-town scoreboard.