Framing the Friars: Joey Lucchesi Impressive, but Padres Hand Victory to Rockies
Petco Park, San Diego
The San Diego Padres came into today’s series finale against their division rival, the Colorado Rockies, sitting at dead last in the NL West. The team has certainly struggled to find consistency at the plate so far this season. Today’s game was a pitcher’s duel from start to finish.
Joey Lucchesi made his second major league start today and dominated the dynamic Rockies’ lineup, throwing five shutout innings, giving up only one hit, while walking three and striking out seven over 84 pitches. The Rockies’ hitters had no answers for Lucchesi, as he was locked in from the start and improved significantly from his debut last week. The 24-year old left-hander impressed with his funky delivery and downward curveball.
Rockies’ left hander, Tyler Anderson, dazzled on the mound for Colorado, pitching six scoreless innings, giving up four hits, zero walks, and four strikeouts. He pounded the zone today and found his spots all afternoon.
Anderson bounced back in a big way from his season debut last week when he got shelled for seven earned runs in a loss to Arizona. The southpaw threw 62 strikes in 84 pitches total ( for a 74 percent strike ratio) on Thursday afternoon. On average, MLB pitchers only throw 62% strikes.
Freddy Galvis was the only Padre hitter with more than one hit on Thursday afternoon. His first single came in the fifth inning against Anderson and his second base knock came off Adam Ottavino in the seventh.
Chase Headley came in to pinch hit in the sixth for Lucchesi and struck out looking, stranding two base runners to keep the game scoreless going into the sixth.
Phil Maton was called up from El Paso yesterday after the team placed Wil Myers on the 10-day DL due to nerve inflammation in his right arm. Maton replaced Luchessi in the sixth and looked solid in his season debut. Craig Stammen continued the excellent pitching for San Diego in the 7th and 8th innings to keep the game scoreless heading into the 9th inning.
The top of the 9th inning was a disaster for the Padres. Brad Hand looked disoriented on the mound and was unable to find the strike zone. He walked Trevor Story and Chris Iannetta to start the inning before Gerardo Parra made it to first safely on a fielding error by Asuaje covering first base. Hand walked in Ryan McMahon for the game’s first run. D.J. Lemahieu added on with a two-run single to right field that made it 3-0 Rockies.
Manuel Margot hit his first home run of the 2018 season, a solo shot in the bottom of the 9th, that made it 3-1 Rockies. The Padres’ quiet bats left Joey Lucchesi looking on from the dugout and waiting for his first major league win. Brad Hand’s frustrating afternoon was the downfall for San Diego as they dropped the game and fell to 1-6 on the young season.
The Padres travel to Houston tonight to take on the reigning World Series Champions starting tomorrow night for a three-game series, followed by three more games against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
A native of Newport Beach, California, Brett has a passion for San Diego sports and America’s Finest City. He graduated from Drew University in Madison, NJ in 2020 where he majored in Computer Science and minored in Business Studies. Brett is patiently waiting on the Padres first World Series championship and will be bringing you insight and knowledge on the Padres, Aztecs and Toreros.