SAN DIEGO – San Diego Padres manager Bud Black decided he had seen enough.
The reigning NL Manager of the Year held a closed-door meeting after the Seattle Mariners completed a dominating three-game sweep on Sunday with a 6-1 victory over the last-place Padres.
"It was a strong tone to get focused, get going," said San Diego catcher Rob Johnson. "We're a better team than this. It wasn't demeaning, it wasn't angry. It was just like, 'bring it to the next level.'"
San Diego has nowhere to go but up, considering it is in last place in the NL West at 19-28. The Padres, who have lost four of five on an eight-game homestand, saw their home record drop to 8-18, worst in the NL.
Felix Hernandez provided the latest obstacle to the Padres as he tied his career high with 13 strikeouts in eight dominant innings.
Hernandez (5-4) allowed one run and six hits as the Mariners won their fifth straight. Seattle held a commanding advantage over San Diego in runs (14-2) and hits (32-14) while striking out 35 in the series.
During the first five games of this homestand, the Padres have scored five runs on 29 hits with 52 strikeouts.
"We have to play better baseball, there's no doubt," Black said. "We have seen spurts of good play, solid play. But so far, we have made too many little mistakes that have compounded and hurt us, offensively, on the mound, and defensively."
The Mariners have allowed two runs or less in their last seven games. They held the Padres to six hits or fewer in each of the three games.
"We have to get back to playing a total game," Black said. "The total game is not in sync. When it is in sync, we win. When it's not, we lose."
Hernandez, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, kept up Seattle's stingy pace. He gave up three singles in the seventh for San Diego's only run, but struck out seven of nine batters during one stretch from the second through the fourth.
The right-hander did not walk a batter as he snapped a two-start skid. Hernandez improved his interleague record to 11-4 with a 2.75 ERA in 20 career starts.
Hernandez also struck out 13 last Aug. 10 against Oakland. He has fanned 10 or more batters 11 times in his career.
Seattle starting pitchers have gone at least seven innings in nine straight starts and in 14 of 17 games this month. In the last seven games, the starters have allowed only four earned runs.
Carlos Peguero and Brendan Ryan each had a two-run double to pace a Mariners offense that came into the game with AL's lowest batting average and the second-fewest runs in the majors.
The Padres have lost 14 of 17 games to Seattle at Petco Park.
Tim Stauffer (0-3) gave up three runs and a season-high 10 hits, including Peguero's two-run double in the third, over six innings. The damage could have been worse, but Stauffer stranded nine runners in the first five innings.
Corey Luebke started the seventh and gave up consecutive singles to Adam Kennedy and Miguel Olivo. Ryan then greeted reliever Luke Gregerson with a one-out double to drive in two runs and give Seattle a 5-0 lead.
Olivo had three of Seattle's 15 hits and scored three runs. Franklin Gutierrez added an RBI single in the ninth.
San Diego's only run came after a leadoff single by Chase Headley in the seventh. With one out, Cameron Maybin singled and Chris Denorfia's two-out singled scored Headley.
NOTES: Jason Bartlett had a first-inning single off Hernandez to break an 0 for 15 skid against him. ... Hernandez has allowed two earned runs or less in nine of his 11 starts. ... San Diego batters have struck out 391 times, tops in the majors.