Four home runs from Giants enough to down Padres 7-6
Padres
San Francisco, California-
A familiar script played out at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Johnny Cueto, much like Jeff Samardzija on Tuesday, fell victim to a high pitch count and was knocked out of the game after just 3 2/3 innings.
The long ball came to the rescue again, as both Manny Machado and Trent Grisham hit home runs to give the San Diego Padres a seemingly insurmountable lead.
Then, the unthinkable happened.
The Padres bent… and bent… then broke at the worst possible moment.
During Wednesday’s game against the San Francisco Giants, Padres pitchers combined to allow four home runs against the Giants, including a solo home run to Mike Yastrzemski to enable the Giants to overcome a four-run deficit and defeat the Padres 7-6
San Francisco took an early lead off of starter Chris Paddack, who didn’t have his usual command at his disposal. After a leadoff triple by Alex Dickerson and an infield single that bounced off of Paddack’s glove, a Donovan Solano single brought home Dickerson to give San Francisco an early lead.
Thus began a game of tug-of-war to determine who wanted the lead more. The following inning, Machado redirected a 91 MPH fastball from Cueto 409 ft to center field for a two-run home run.
After Yaztremski’s solo home run in the bottom half of the inning tied the game up at two runs each, an RBI single from Edward Olivares and a towering three-run home run by Grisham gave the lead back to San Diego.
TWO. OUT. THUNDER.
Trent Grisham with a three-run BLAST!#FriarFaithful | @Padres pic.twitter.com/MuDw6kUvSF
— Bally Sports San Diego (@BallySportsSD) July 30, 2020
Even with their new patience-oriented approach at the plate, it, unfortunately, didn’t help San Diego’s offense from that point on.
Despite chasing Cueto from the game after the Giants’ starter coughed up four runs on four hits and three walks, reliever Tyler Anderson held the Padres scoreless from the sixth inning on.
A different story unfolded for relievers donning the San Diego pinstripes as, what was thought to be a strength for the team instead became the weakest link. Again.
First, a solo home run off of David Bednar made the score 6-3. After allowing a leadoff single in the seventh inning and getting a flyball out, Tim Hill got the final two outs.
Hill was the only San Diego reliever not to allow a run.
Craig Stammen got two quick outs in between a walk, but a Brandon Crawford single kept the eighth inning alive to bring up Solano.
An 89 MPH changeup by Stammen missed its location. Solano didn’t miss on the swing, as evidenced the three-run home run he parked into left field. What was once a 6-2 lead had evaporated.
The woes continued in the next inning as Matt Strahm, who got the final out in the eighth, failed to get a single out in the ninth. A fastball up in the zone was walloped into the Bay by Yastrzemski for a game-ending home run.
San Diego will play one more game against the Giants tomorrow before hitting the road for Colorado. Dinelson Lamet will take the mound for the Padres.
I am currently attending San Diego State University while working on achieving a major in journalism. At SDSU, I write for The Daily Aztec while also hosting the sports radio show “Picked Off”, for KCR Radio. A loyal fan of San Diego sports, I hope to bring content that you will enjoy reading.