Padres' fourth consecutive defeat is a shutout by White Sox

SAN DIEGO - Sometimes, an opposing pitcher is excellent. Sometimes, an offense is struggling.

Sometimes, it is infuriatingly both.

The Padres lost, 4-0, on Saturday in a game in which they were confounded by a second straight young White Sox starting pitcher.

Sean Burke, a 26-year-old right-hander, allowed the Padres four hits in his six scoreless innings, one night after rookie left-hander Noah Schultz allowed two hits over his six scoreless innings.

The two losses to the White Sox followed two to the Cubs, which is quite the skid considering that before this week the Padres had not lost consecutive games since the final two days of March.

A pitchers' duel between Burke and Padres starter Michael King got blown up when the White Sox scored two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings.

King departed after surrendering three hits and a run in the seventh, and one of the runners he left to Bradgley Rodriguez scored as well.

Burke was replaced by left-hander Bryan Hudson, who retired the Padres in order on six pitches. Grant Taylor took just two more than that to get through the three Padres he faced in the eighth.

Jackson Merrill's second single of the game and walks by Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts began the ninth inning. But Taylor struck out Gavin Sheets, and Seranthony Dominguez came on to retire Miguel Andujar and Luis Campusano.

And now the team that woke up last Sunday with the major leagues' best record has lost five of its past six games.

It is not difficult to assess why.

They have 21 hits and have scored nine runs over their past four games, and their starting pitchers have allowed 16 runs in 20 2/3 innings in those contests.

The Padres came back from a 2-0 deficit before losing 8-3 to the Cubs on Tuesday, came back from a 3-0 deficit before losing 5-4 to the Cubs on Wednesday and were unable to come back from big deficits the past two nights against the other Chicago team.

The loss in a game in which King continued a stretch of relative excellence was a tough one given the tenuous nature of much of the rest of the rotation.

Nick Pivetta and Joe Musgrove are sidelined indefinitely with elbow issues, and King (2.95) and Randy Vásquez (2.94) are the only starters remaining with an ERA under 5.40.

The Padres appear set to activate Griffin Canning off the injured list to pitch Sunday, either as the starter or after an opener. Canning, who signed during spring training, has been working back from an Achilles rupture and subsequent surgery in June.

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This story was originally published May 2, 2026 at 8:53 PM.