SAN DIEGO — Maybe the Padres are only half bad.
That is how they have played for more than a week.
Wednesday continued a string of nine games in which the Padres have altered scoring ample runs in victories and scoring just once in losses.
A 10-3 win over the Mariners was ample, with five hits by Juan Soto, another home run by Gary Sánchez and a side of six more scoreless innings from Michael Wacha.
Wednesday was the third time in nine games the Padres scored at least nine runs and the fourth time they reached double digits in hits. The outburst came after Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss, the fourth time in an eight-game span the Padres scored one run while getting no more than five hits.
Their 17 hits tied a season high, and Soto’s five hits were a career high. Sánchez doubled and hit his fourth home run in eight games. All but one Padres starter had at least one hit and all but two reached base multiple times.
It was 10-0 before the Mariners scored three runs in the eighth inning off Drew Carlton — on a three walks a hit batter and one of the three hits they had in the game.
The other two hits were allowed by Wacha, who made it through six innings without allowing a run for the fourth time this season.
The Padres’ big day began quickly, softly and small.
They saw just six pitches in the first inning before Sánchez led off the second by blooping a double into left field on the ninth pitch of his at-bat. Jake Cronenworth bunted him to third, and Sánchez scored on a single by Matt Carpenter.
Two outs into the third inning, Soto got the second of his for singles. Manny Machado followed with a single before Sánchez made it 4-0 with his fourth home run in eight games.
Again with two outs, in the fourth, Fernando Tatis Jr. singled, stole second and went to third on catcher Cal Raleigh’s throwing error and scored on a single by Soto.
A three-run fifth inning began with a Cronenworth single and Carpenter walk. Alfonso Rivas joined the hit barrage with a one-out RBI single that scored Cronenworth. Tatis was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Soto drove in two runs with a single.
Ha-Seong Kim led off the seventh inning with a single and went to second on Trent Grisham’s one-out. Both advanced on a wild pitch. Kim scored on a groundout by Tatis, and Grisham scored the Padres’ final run on a double by Soto.
This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.