For all the hoopla that was made about the Padres’ offense, who would have known that returning to the offensive approach that led to wins would… lead to a win?

In the third of three against the New York Yankees, the Padres’ offense returned to the scrappy, opportunistic approach that helped them spark wins on their road trip, culminating in a victory over the Bronx Bombers. 

Joe Musgrove took the mound after a short start in Cincinnati and delivered a very strong outing.

Musgrove went 5.1 innings, allowing a single run on six hits. He did not walk a batter and punched out five. Musgrove’s sequencing was certainly a fascinating endeavor, as he leaned more on his curveball and changeup to generate whiffs and set up his slider and fastball. While his four-seamer was slightly down in terms of his velocity, a minor increase in spin rate across all of his pitches saw a 26% whiff rate in the game.

Following Musgrove’s exit, Mike Shildt turned to Jeremiah Estrada to keep it a one-run ball game.

Estrada had punched out his last five batters faced in Cincinnati on Thursday, so what did he do today?

He struck out the five batters he faced. That’s ten consecutive strikeouts for Estrada in his last two outings, becoming the first Padre reliever…ever to do so. On the season, the righty now has a 0.59 ERA & WHIP, with a whopping 14.67 K/9.

The Padres were held off the board across five innings by Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt, continuing a solid stretch by New York starters.

However, the Friars would get their first two on base in the sixth off a fatiguing Schmidt before plating two thanks to some San Diego small ball. The Padres forcing the Yankees to make plays in bang-bang situations would pay off, and RBI singles from Fernando Tatis Jr and Luis Arraez would make it a 4-1 game. 

Back-to-back doubles from Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado in the seventh would add on another run, and after Wandy Peralta would get two on with two out in the eighth,

Robert Suarez would come on and strike out Aaron Judge to end the threat, extending his own scoreless streak to 20.1 innings. The streak would end on the first batter of the ninth, with an Alex Verdugo home run going just past the glove of Jose Azocar, but Suarez would buckle down and record the final three outs en route to a 5-2 Padres win. 

The Padres prepare to welcome the Miami Marlins on Memorial Day afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 3:40 pm. Michael King will take the mound against the Marlins’ Trevor Rogers. The game will be available on Padres.TV and 97.3 The Fan, so if you’re having a Memorial Day barbeque, there are plenty of options to tune in.

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.