Padres fall 11-4 in season finale as Giants clinch NL West crown
Credit: AP Photo
The San Diego Padres could not match what they did on Saturday against the San Francisco Giants, which was preventing them from securing a National League West title. In game 162 of this grueling 2021 season, the San Diego Padres fell 11-4 to the Giants to close out a disappointing campaign for San Diego.
Reiss Knehr took the mound for the Padres for the team’s final game, going three innings while allowing two runs and striking out two. Knehr was responsible for the Giants’ first two runs of the game, which came in the bottom of the third inning on a Buster Posey two-run single. The Padres would cut that lead in half in the next half-inning thanks to a Manny Machado sacrifice fly, but the Giants would bounce right back to score five in the bottom of the fourth.
RBI singles by Tommy La Stella and Posey, along with an RBI double by Wilmer Flores and a sacrifice fly by LaMonte Wade, accounted for the five-run bottom of the fourth. The Giants continued to tack on to their 7-1 lead the following inning, scoring a pair of runs on a two-run home run by Giants’ starting pitcher Logan Webb, his first home run of the season.
The Webb home run was a back-breaker for the Padres, who were playing for nothing more than pride on Sunday. For the Giants, the home run was the beginning of the celebration in San Francisco.
A Mike Yastrzemski two-run double in the bottom of the seventh kept the party going for the Giants, extending their lead to nine runs at 11-1. The Padres would score three runs in the top of the eighth thanks to RBI singles by Victor Caratini and Trent Grisham, as well as a sacrifice fly by Jake Cronenworth.
This cut the Giants’ lead to 11-4, but it would be all the Padres could muster against the Giants. In all, Giants’ starter Webb went seven innings while allowing four runs and striking out eight. The Padres finish the 2021 regular season four games below .500 at 79-83. With a lot of questions looming around the franchise after underperforming in 2021, Sunday is just the beginning of a long off-season for the Padres as well as their fans.
“Whatever it takes to bring a championship to the city, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to make that happen,” said Padres’ third baseman Machado when asked about the current coaching situation and the potential for front office changes in the off-season.
Asked about his team and his standing with the team heading into the off-season, San Diego manager Jayce Tingler said, “I believe in this group. Of course, I want to be a part going forward. … I don’t think we’re as far off as what the standings show.”
Kevin is a San Diego Native covering the San Diego Padres and their affiliates