The Phillies were all over Baz in their third time around the order. They wound up scoring five runs during that fateful fourth inning which started with a walk, single, fielder’s choice, and safety squeeze before Bryson Stott, Trea Turner, and Bryce Harper had consecutive base hits to chase him from the game. All three of those batted balls were hit at least 100 mph and it felt like they were seeing him very clearly by that point. Turner himself had two batted balls over 100 mph, with the other being a home run. While Baz’s velocity was up, his command was off and he left far too many knuckle-curves in the middle of the zone. Baz now has an ugly 4.93 ERA after this poor start and he’ll have to get his command back before his next scheduled start against the Blue Jays.

Baz walked three and struck out one in the ineffective outing. Things started fine for the right-hander with just one run allowed over the first four frames, but he proceeded to allow three runs in the fifth and sixth to ruin any chance of a quality — literally and figuratively — start. Baz has scuffled in two of his last three outings, and while his other starts have been anywhere from solid to fantastic, it’s seen his ERA jump to 3.86. He’ll be back on the bump next week against the Phillies.

Baz was able to regain his form here after a rough start last weekend against the Yankees. The Padres only put one man in scoring position after the third inning – on a hit by pitch and stolen base by Jose Iglesias with two outs in the seventh – and never mounted anything that came close to a rally against him. He simply got ahead with his fastball and then dropped curveball after curveball to shut them down. This great start gave him a 2.45 ERA in what’s shaping up to be a huge breakout season. His next start is scheduled to come against the Royals.