The Latest Breaking News from Trent Grisham

MILWAUKEE — Their starting pitchers have been so good, the Padres used two of them Sunday.

MILWAUKEE — MacKenzie Gore continued to be what the Padres have believed he is, and Jake Cronenworth had the kind of day that hinted he might be too.

In manager Oliver Marmol’s perfect world, left-hander Packy Naughton and Andre Pallante, the relievers who were the first two hurlers for the Cardinals in Monday afternoon’s “bullpen game,” would have pitched the first six innings. The final three would belong to late-inning stalwarts Giovanny Gallegos, Genesis Cabrera and Ryan Helsley.

This season the home run rate has taken its biggest drop in 34 years, but baseball is not on its way to another Deadball Era.

It seems the Padres' penchant for living a baseball life with win-loss margins as thin as Rodeo Drive packing tissue owns a fresh and fitting color.

SAN DIEGO — Joe Musgrove walked to the mound Saturday night with the NL’s leading hitter nursing a balky elbow on the bench and just one hitter in his lineup with a batting average better than .235.

The Padres returned to San Diego having won four straight games to finish their most successful long road trip in more than two decades.

ATLANTA — The Padres have been riding the back end of their bullpen, living on the edge at times and going over a cliff at others.

SAN DIEGO — After 20 innings without a run and with Jurickson Profar having improbably run into an out and down to their final chance, no one watching could have had much confidence the Padres would win Sunday.