In their final home game of the season, the San Diego Padres used a three-run eighth en route to their 90th win.

On the cusp of sweeping the White Sox into the history books, Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish continued his upward trajectory since returning from the IL. Darvish struck out a season-high nine batters over 6.1 innings. Darvish turned to his breaking pitches most often, as in 87 pitches, only 20 classified as either a sinker or a four-seam fastball. This “pitching backward” approach from Darvish helped yield whiffs on 28% of swings against him, as well as seven swinging strikeouts.

The only major blemishes on Darvish’s final line were a pair of solo home runs. The White Sox’s 68% solo home run rate leads the league, and fittingly, the White Sox pushed across their two runs on a pair of solo home runs by Korey Lee and Miguel Vargas. The White Sox only mustered three hits off Darvish and five hits overall.

White Sox starter (and Chicago’s No. 29 prospect) Sean Burke tossed six innings, matching Darvish frame by frame. The Southsiders’ starter went six innings, allowing only a solo homer by Jurickson Profar in the third inning. Burke struck out eight Padres hitters in his time on the mound, getting whiffs on 31% of swings against.

In a game full of quality pitching, offense was scarce, so both teams aimed to make the most of their opportunities. Chicago posted an 0-for with runners in scoring position, adding on to their offensive woes. With both teams struggling for runs, the question was one of which pitching staff would blink first. Adrian Morejon struck out two in the seventh inning in relief of Darvish, stranding a runner on second base. On the opposing side, Prelander Berroa tossed a scoreless seventh inning to keep the Padres down by one. On to the next frame.

Jeremiah Estrada came into the ballgame in the eighth inning, striking out Jacob Amaya and Miguel Vargas in a hitless inning of work. After struggling in the month of August, Estrada has essentially tossed a one-hitter in September, striking out ten in nine scoreless frames. Estrada’s contributions have been a major boost to a bullpen that has seen some of its higher-leverage arms show inconsistencies in the month.

The bottom of the eighth began with Prelander Berroa still on the mound for Chicago and Donovan Solano at the plate. Solano grounded a double down the line on a fastball in on the hands and was replaced by Tyler Wade at second. With the tying run now on base, Mike Shildt turned to Luis Arraez off the bench against new Sox reliever Fraser Ellard. The left-hander had allowed only one run in eleven innings coming into this game, but on his sixth pitch, Arraez lined a line drive to left field, scoring Wade and knotting the game at two.

Luis Arraez gets fired up with a game-tying double in the 8th! pic.twitter.com/WJBPg0pygt

— MLB (@MLB) September 22, 2024

Arraez was visibly hyped after his base hit, and once the energy was flowing, there was no stopping it.

Brandon Lockridge replaced Arraez at second as a pinch-runner and advanced to third base on a wild pitch with Jurickson Profar at the plate. Profar drove a fly ball to right after an eight-pitch at-bat, and Lockridge tagged up to score on the sacrifice fly, giving San Diego a one-run lead. Three pitches later, the lead shot up to two runs as Fernando Tatis Jr hit a towering drive to left field to give San Diego a 4-2 lead. It was Tatis’ 20th home run in 97 games this season, and Tatis has now homered at least 20 times in four of the last five seasons in which he has played (excluding his 17 home run 2020 season).

With the team now leading by two, the final question of the game was who would be closing out the game. With Tanner Scott having posted a five-out save on Saturday, the Padres turned to Robert Suarez for the final three outs. Suarez was looking to bounce back after a blown save two games prior and some adjustments in his pitch usage, throwing seven pitches that were not four-seamers (three changeups, three sinkers, and a cutter). These minor adjustments led to a scoreless ninth inning, with Suarez striking out Gavin Sheets on a fading changeup to end the game.

These Padres never faltered, believing they could make the comeback. “We’re more of an action versus words kind of team” manager Mike Shildt said postgame, and his Padres have proved such over the course of the season.

A Few Notes:

• The team is now 40-16 in the second half of the season, skyrocketing them to their first 90-win season under GM/President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller’s tenure.
• Mike Shildt now has the highest win total (90) of a Padres’ manager in their first season with the team. The previous record was held by Bud Black in 2007 and Bob Melvin in 2022, each with 89 wins.
• The Padres enter their series in Los Angeles three games back of the NL West division lead. San Diego has gone 7-3 against the Dodgers this season.
• The Padres finish their regular season home games with a final attendance of 3,314,593 total attendees, a franchise record.

The Padres head up the I-5 for a critical three-game tilt against the Los Angeles Dodgers starting Tuesday night at 7:10 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.