In the first half of their day-night doubleheader, the Padres would come back to win despite a bevy of early-inning gut punches.

Padres starter (and Georgia native) Dylan Cease took the ball for game one of the day and was tested early.

The Braves, who have not been shut out at home since May of 2023, proved why that is the case right away, scoring twice in the frame. The Braves would really make Cease work in the third, with back-to-back home runs from Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson setting the tone for the frame.

Cease would allow five runs on nine hits across four innings, walking three and striking out five. Cease would get twelve whiffs on the outing, with six coming on the slider.

The biggest story to this point for the Padres was the early departure of second baseman Xander Bogaerts.

In the third inning of today’s contest, Bogaerts dove for a ground ball off the bat of Ronald Acuna Jr. but landed awkwardly on his left shoulder. The Padres did not have a statement on Bogaerts’ shoulder as of the end of Game 1, with manager Mike Shildt reporting that the initial imaging on Bogaerts’ shoulder came back negative, which was “initially the best-case scenario.”

Xander Bogaerts has left the game. That didn't look good pic.twitter.com/RueTOafjFV

— Talking Friars (@TalkingFriars) May 20, 2024

The Padres’ offense would largely be held at bay by Braves starter Reynaldo Lopez, who allowed two runs over 6.1 innings.

While Lopez did not record many strikeouts, he did an effective job with sequencing his offerings to hold the Padres to soft contact most of the day. The Padres would bring the game within reach on a single by Jackson Merrill in the seventh, making the score 5-2 (and closing the line for Lopez).

Padres relievers Logan Gillaspie and Jhony Brito would hold the Braves scoreless through the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, their work allowing the Padres time to chip away. Their efforts would hit a turning point in the eighth against Braves set-up man Joe Jimenez. The hard contact the Padres had not been getting many results on finally came through. The real dagger for Atlanta would come on Manny Machado’s two-run double, lined into the left-center field gap at 103.1 mph. Moments like these show how dangerous the Padres can be, much to the delight of the Friar Faithful.

Jeremiah Estrada would come on in the eighth inning and continued to prove his value in this bullpen, with eight called & swinging strikes on 16 total pitches. San Diego did not add on in the top of the ninth, and they summoned Robert Suarez to the mound with a one-run lead. Michael Harris II would bloop a ball towards center field, but Ha-Seong Kim would make an outstanding over-the-shoulder play to secure the out. Suarez would wind up recording the save on seven pitches, securing a series victory for the fightin’ Friars.

The Padres look to win their fourth straight this afternoon with Randy Vasquez on the mound. The first pitch is at 3:20 pm Pacific.

Diego Garcia

A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.

A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.