ICYMI: Padres Beat Giants 4-2 For Fifth Straight Win
San Diego Padres 4, San Francisco Giants 2
Matt Kemp delivered a big two-run home run in the third and Ian Kennedy continued his dominance over the Giants, as the San Diego Padres have won a season high five straight.
The Padres left nine runners on base on Monday night but still did enough off of Giants’ starter Tim Hudson to get the victory.
The Padres loaded the bases in the first but a Norris groundout with two down ended the threat.
In the Giants’ third, Gregor Blanco lead off with a solo shot, his third of the season. Kennedy is has now given up 21 homers, which ties him for third in the MLB. He’s allowed at least one home run in his last seven starts.
Kemp answered back with a blast of his own. After an Alexi Amarista walk, Kemp took that ball to the beach with a 409 ft. homer to the deepest part of the ballpark. It was career RBIs 699 and 700 for Kemp, who has been hot out of the gates in the second half (hitting .320 in July).
Kennedy ran into some trouble in the fifth. With two outs, the Giants rallied with three straight singles, the last one was an RBI single by Buster Posey to tie the game at two.
IPK pitched well though as he has throughout his career vs the Giants. In the last three years he’s 5-2 in ten starts with a 3.18 ERA. On Monday he gave up just two earned in six innings
to earn his fifth victory of the season.
In the fifth, back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and a intentional walk to Matt Kemp loaded them for Jedd Gyorko. That was all for Hudson on the night as Gyorko took a 3-2 pitch up in the zone to left for a sac-fly off of relief pitcher Yusmeiro Petit. Yangervis Solarte sliding into home head first gave the Padres a 3-2 lead.
Solarte would again be involved as the Pads got some insurance. Melvin Upton Jr. tripled to start the sixth and Solarte brought him in with a single to right center.
Brandon Maurer and Joquin Benoit pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning respectively.
Craig Kimbrel closed the door with a 4 pitch save, his 26th of the season.
Padres, winners of five in a row, sit in third place in the NL West, 8.5 games back and 6 games back in the Wild Card.
Keep the Faith!
Game Notes:
Justin Upton sat with tightness in his oblique that happened in the rain out game on Sunday.
On Deck:
First Pitch – 7:10 pm PT
Odrisamer Despaigne (3-6, 4.64 ERA) toes the rubber in game two of the series looking to keep the winning streak alive at six.
Chris Heston (9-5, 3.39 ERA) gets the start for the Giants. The talented rookie already threw a no-hitter earlier this season against the Mets.
Nick was born and raised in San Diego where he became a Chargers and Padres fan, attending numerous home games throughout the years with his dad. He then went on to attend college at the University of Arizona. There he earned his degree in marketing and now lives in San Francisco where he dreams of the the sunny beaches of San Diego. Bear Down.