Renfroe’s Walk-Off Homer in ninth Salvages Series for Padres
Credit: AP Photo
Petco Park- San Diego, California
There was much optimism on Friday, as the Padres began a three-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Two tough losses later and the mood of the team is still positive, but you can sense the frustration in the air. On military Sunday, it fell on Nick Margevicius to get the job done for San Diego. The rookie has been tough as nails for the Padres this season.
Margevicius was effective going 5.2 innings and throwing 89 pitches.
If not for a rough stretch in the fifth inning, in which the lefty allowed a three-run homer off the bat of Max Muncy his pitching line would look a lot better. Margevicius walked Corey Seager with two outs in the inning and then allowed a base hit to David Freese. Muncy jumped on a fastball and deposited it in the right-field stands. The game sped up on the rookie for a few batters, which is bound to happen every now and then.
For the Padres, the team took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Franmil Reyes smashed a home run into the second deck in left field, his 9th of the year. Francisco Mejia and Greg Garcia also drove in runs as the Padres held a 4-3 late into the eighth inning.
LA. MOLE. WITH AUTHORITY!
This 4ļøā£4ļøā£7ļøā£-foot shot by Franmil Reyes gets the @Padres started early!#FriarFaithful | @La_Mole_13 pic.twitter.com/N5fuIvjgC5
ā FOX Sports San Diego (@FOXSportsSD) May 5, 2019
With the bullpen in shatters, Robbie Erlin was called upon to get three outs in the top of the 8th. The left-handed pitcher was unable to do the job as he walked Muncy to lead off the inning and then promptly gave up a two-run homer off the bat of Chris Taylor. L.A. was now up 5-4 in the game.
Kenley Jansen made an appearance in the ninth for Los Angeles, attempting to record his third save in three games for the Dodgers. Eric Hosmer greeted him with a slashing opposite-field single to leadoff the inning. Two bunt singles from Manuel Margot and Wil Myers loaded the bases for the Padres, and you could sense something special was going to happen.
Greg Garcia was allowed to hit with nobody out and the bases loaded. Hunter Renfroe and Austin Hedges were available off the bench for the Padres, but manager Andy Green allowed his veteran utility man to hit. Garcia battled for nine pitches but took strike three down the heart of the plate with a 3-2 count. Francisco Mejia was next up for San Diego and popped up to the first baseman. With two outs, Hunter Renfroe came up to bat with the game on the line.
HUNTER RENFROE WALK OFF GRAND SLAM ASDFGHJKLWDNJSON@PADRES WIN!!!!!!#FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/Ou2cqu9Gvk
ā FOX Sports San Diego (@FOXSportsSD) May 5, 2019
He did not fail, as he crushed a Jansen cut-fastball deep to left field off the facade of the Western Metal Supply Building for an 8-5 Padres victory. With that, the Padres have their first walk-off victory of the year and suddenly the weekend wasn’t a total loss for the Friars. The team was one out from being demoralized but now will hold their heads up high as the Mets come to town starting on Monday.
James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.
An amazing win worth celebrating. Yet reality kicks in. The Padres were up in all 3 games, and, with just a little common sense managing, they would have won all 3. Not only did Andy Green mismanage all 3, he likely made it harder for the players to play for him, due to his massive incompetence, and the resulting losses. Teams like this do not have much room for error–especially playing teams with a 50 billion dollar payroll (slight exagerration). AG is not one to shrewdly navigate the Padres tiny error margin. Therefore, they cannot really win with him as their manager.
One more thing, we can all agree the bullpen is grossly unreliable, and they deserve a lot of blame. Yet a back end of Stammen, Yates, and Hand would have locked down several games the Padres lost. Preller, however, turned a top 10 closer (on a very team friendly contract) into a backup catcher who can’t hit above the Mendoza line. I hope Mejia turns it around, but he should be back in AAA.
Great win, we kinda needed it. The Padres led in all 3 games, but in all three Green left the starter in too long and allowed the Dodgers to get back in the game, or even take the lead. 5th inning, two outs and Margevicius allows a walk and a hit. With a 4-0 lead, time to go to a reliever and close the door. But not for Andy Green. Margevicius gives up the long fly and a game that we had in hand is once again a toss up. Good thing Renfroe connected, or the fan mood might be a bit surly.
This series had a different feel than any other one in the Preller era, like maybe, just maybe it meant something. Now probably the team still falls out of contention and back to being a 74-78 win team, but had Green handled his bullpen more skillfully this year, they would have been more rested and we easily could have won all 3 games. If SD had swept we can only wonder how that might have changed the season.
Its morally wrong for me to write my negatives comments regarding today’s win but I can not help myself. In today’s world of growing conspiracies I contend the our manager is secretly a Dodger and was endeavoring to give LA a sweep. However due to some timely luck and a fat flat batting practice cutter by Mr. Jansen, Hunter was able to save the day for our Padres. With Maton pitching on all cylinders why else would he replace him with Robbie Erlin. I said to myself, here we go again and two batters later my suspicions were realized to be true. All three games were eerily similar. I believe he has cost us at least 3 or 4 wins this year already.
Let me feed you a contra-conspiracy: Andy Green’s strategy all along was to tire out Kenley Jansen. He intentionally bungled his management when they were leading so that Jansen would be so fatigued by Sunday. (how else do you explain such bad decisions?) This was all so that he would be so tired that he would give up a home run in the bottom of the ninth to win for the Padres. That was his brilliant plan all along, mere mortals just couldn’t see his genius. (yes, I’m kidding)