The Padres reached the one-third mark of the season Wednesday night on pace to set at least one club record -- strikeouts ... by hitters.
Eight more Padres fanned in a 6-4 loss to Washington at Petco Park -- giving San Diego a National League high total of 439. That puts the Padres on pace for 1,317 strikeouts this season. The club record is 1,273, set in 2001.
But recently the Padres have stepped up their strikeout pace. They could be capable of many more.
Opposing pitchers have struck out 93 Padres over the past eight games and 146 over the past 14. During that span, the Padres have had some poor individual and team efforts.
As a team, the Padres had 19 strikeouts in Sunday's 18-inning victory over the Reds. But they have also had nine-inning totals of 17, 15, 14 and 13.
Individually, third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff has struck out in every one of those 14 games for a total of 21 whiffs. But his 14-game total is not the team high. Second baseman Tadahito Iguchi has 22 strikeouts over those 14 games, and shortstop Khalil Greene has 20.
A third of the way into the season, five Padres are on pace for 129 or more strikeouts.
NATIONALS 6, PADRES 4: Jesus Flores hit a grand slam off Shawn Estes in the fourth inning Wednesday, snapping a scoreless tie. "I served it up on a platter," said Estes, who moments earlier lost his command with a pair of pitches that went to the backstop before he hit Lastings Milledge with a pitch to load the bases. Scott Hairston went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer for the Padres, while Tadahito Iguchi was 3-for-5 with a run-scoring single.
