The perceived weak link has exhibited signs of fraying on consecutive nights.
The supposed strength of the Padres helped out Tuesday, though the burst of pop was too late and not enough.
No matter how many times Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. take away hits and save runs in the field, as they did again Tuesday, the Padres won’t win much if they can’t collectively do more at the plate.
They lost 8-5 to the Diamondbacks on Tuesday in a game in which the first 12 runs came via eight homers.
It was the first time in six games the Padres scored more than four runs — the first three on a pair of homers by Hunter Renfroe and the final two on Wil Myers’ pinch-hit home run in the seventh, which made it 7-5.