Padres Series Recap: Padres Fall to Mets, Lose Third Straight Series
The San Diego Padres have just lost two out of three games from the New York Mets. This is now the third straight series which the Padres have lost. The team on paper really isn’t in good shape. However, upon further analysis they’re really not looking so bad.
This is another series in which there were still plenty of positives despite the losses. For one the pitching was really solid in this series. The Padres starting pitchers only allowed up to three runs in a game in this series. In total they combined for only six earned runs in 16 innings of work.
That is quite impressive with the pitchers we have against a team like the Mets. The offense also definitely had its bright spots throughout the series. They didn’t quite do as well as the starting pitchers but still had their moments. Overall this series was one that left me satisfied despite losing two out of the three games.
Game 1: The Grand-Schimpf
The Padres offense would have quite the performance on the first game of this series. They would manage to get eight runs in just two and two-thirds innings. The pitching in this game really isn’t worth talking about because of all the offense. But our starter, Paul Clemens managed to pull off a decent start. Clemens would have his best start of the year. He would allow three runs in five innings of work. The Mets starter, Logan Verrett would really have quite a rough day on the mound. He would allow four home runs and eight runs in just two and two-thirds innings.The Padres would start it off huge in the first inning of the game. The Friars would load up the bases for Ryan Schimpf. He would really come up clutch with his first career grand slam. The Padres would not stop there, Jabari Blash would follow with a solo shot as well.The Friars would come away with five runs in the first inning of the game.
The Mets would continue this slug fest in the second inning. Travis d’Arnaud would jack a two run shot to put the Mets on the board. The score would then be 5-2 after two. The Padres would continue to hand out souvenirs in the third inning of the game. Ryan Schimpf would keep it going with a two run home run. Christian Bethancourt would then continue this home run derby with a solo shot. The Padres would have a commanding 8-2 lead after just three innings. The Friars offense would actually stop producing after the third completely and not even pull off another hit. Well it wouldn’t be needed anyways. The Mets would try to come back in the game but in the end would fall short. They would get themselves four more runs and the game would end with a 8-6 scoreline.
Buddy Baumann would be the only member of the bullpen who would have a rough outing. He would allow three runs and not even get a single out. Apart from him no other member of the Padres pen would even allow a man on base for the Mets. Brandon Maurer would then shut it down in the ninth and get the Padres the W. Overall this really would be a fantastic game for the Padres. The offense was obviously in tune for this game with four jacks. The pitching would also be nice with Paul Clemens having a nice start and the bullpen doing quality work. Overall every component was on point in this game to ensure the Padres a victory. The key player of the game would definitely have to be Ryan Schimpf. The Padres really would not have been able to win the game without him. Schimpf would have a career day going 2-6 with six RBI. It really is quite amazing when you look at the players who were crucial in this game. Schimpf, Blash and Bethancourt. These were three guys who weren’t even in the Padres plans to begin the season. Now there the one’s doing the heavy lifting at this point of the season. Crazy to see how many twist, turns and curve balls this sport has to offer.
Game Two: More Homers. D’oh!
Game two of the series would turn out to be another very exciting game. The game wouldn’t quite have as many runs as the first one but it would still be a great game. The pitching would be much better on both sides in this game. For the Mets, Jacob deGrom would have an outstanding start. He would only allow a run on three hits in seven innings. For the Friars, Jarred Cosart wouldn’t look so bad himself. He would also only allow a run on three hits but in six innings of work. Both pitchers would definitely have very nice outings on Saturday. The offense would be quite slow in this game, Neil Walker would get things going with an RBI single in the first. After that we wouldn’t see much at all until the seventh inning of the game. Yangervis Solarte would hit a solo home run to put the Padres on the board. We would be tied up at a run a piece heading into the bottom of the seventh.
Kelly Johnson would quickly retaliate for the Mets as he would get a run on a sac-fly. The Mets would be up 2-1 after seven innings. After a few slow innings we then would be in the ninth inning. All hope seemed to be lost with Jeurys Familia looking for his 40th save of the season. With two outs, Wil Myers would step up to the plate. Unexpectedly Myers would hit a solo shot to tie the game at two runs a piece. Familia would get the blown save and we would head into extra innings. You know what that means? The Padres would lose this game by a walk or an error or something along those lines. Well yeah unfortunately that would be the case in the bottom of the 11th inning. The Padres would end up losing the game by a ground ball hit to Ryan Schimpf by Wilmer Flores. Schimpf would go home with the ball and throw it completely off target. It’s fine at this point of the season I’m already used to seeing these types of losses. They are still frustrating, but it’s less of a pain when you’ve seen it a few times. Overall this game wouldn’t be a bad one. Jarred Cosart would look impeccable in this game. If that’s a preview of what he is capable of doing, then I’m quite excited. There was also something very interesting to take note in this game. Just like the first game of the series all runs produced by the Padres would come via home runs. Could the Padres continue it in the final game of the series?
Game Three: The Amazing Matz
The final game of the series turned out to be all about one man, Steven Matz. Unfortunately the Padres would not be able to keep it up with the home runs in this one. The Mets would actually be the ones putting in the shift in that department. Stevn Matz would end up having one of the best starts of his young career. Matz had been quite unlucky as he had only picked up one win in the past 11 weeks. Well Matz certainly earned his victory on Sunday. The rookie would take a no-hitter into the eighth inning of the game. Matz would actually still see some of that unluckiness in this game. The first hit of the game for the Padres would come from Alexei Ramirez. Ramirez would hit a ball just fair over the first base bag. There really was no possible way of stopping that ball at all. Matz would lead the Mets to victory as he would go seven and a third and only allow a hit in the game.
Clayton Richard would be the man on the mound for the Friars. It was really nice to see Richard as a starter for the Pads for the first time since 2013. He would actually not do that bad himself. Richard would only allow three hits through five innings of work. Unfortunately two out of the three hits would be solo home runs. Wilmer Flores and Neil Walker would connect off of Richard to give the Mets a couple of runs. The Mets would end up putting up five runs on the day after getting a few runs off the bullpen. The lone run of the game for the Padres would come until the ninth inning. Yangervis Solarte would get himself an RBI single to drive in Wil Myers. The game would finish 5-1 in the Mets and Matz favor. Overall this would not be the best of games for the Padres. The offense was nonexistent throughout the game and the bullpen would also allow three runs to score. The only bright spot of the game turned out to be Clayton Richard. Hopefully Richard can continue to be part of the Padres staff as he did show that he deserves a chance at it. Overall this series wasn’t all we hoped for. But in the end we saw three completely different exciting games. There were also several good thing that came from this series as well. At this point of the season that is all that matters as of now. Well the next stop is St.Pete, until then Friar Faithful. Go Padres!
Francisco, 26, Chula Vista/Tijuana. I have been a Padres fan all my life, did most of the series previews and recaps in the Padres’ 2016 season for EVT. Now I focus more on the local soccer scene. Tijuana Xolos, San Diego Loyal, San Diego Wave.