Richards strong in tune-up, but Padres drop exhibition to Angels
Credit: BTA
Yes, the San Diego Padres played a baseball game. No, it wasn’t an intrasquad scrimmage.
It was an actual baseball game against an opponent wearing a uniform that didn’t say “San Diego” on the front. The game was played on Fox Sports San Diego, not on MLB.TV, while Don Orsillo and Mark Grant provided commentary while cracking jokes.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim scored a single run, and San Diego was unable to muster up enough offense in time, dropping the exhibition match 1-0.
Garrett Richards took the mound for San Diego and pitched 4.2 innings against his former team, the Los Angeles Angels. The right-hander struck out five Angels and allowed an unearned run on five hits.
The only run of the game scored in the first inning. David Fletcher led off the game with a single while Mike Trout followed with a walk.
Richards induced a groundball out of the number-three hitter, Tommy La Stella, but his errant throw to second base allowed Fletcher to score from second base with what became the only run of the game.
Los Angeles starter Griffin Canning shut the Padres offense down, twirling six innings of shutout baseball while striking out five Padres.
After allowing a leadoff walk to Fernando Tatis Jr. in the first inning, Canning settled down to retire the next seven Padres in order. Edward Olivares, who is looking more and more deserving of a 30-man roster spot, broke the streak with a fourth-inning double.
After the game commenced, both teams took the field once more to practice the new extra-innings rule. Implemented by Commissioner Rob Manfred for the 2020 season, teams must place a runner on second base to begin the extra innings.
With Javier Guerra on the mound for San Diego, Anaheim scored two runs to push the game to 3-1 (San Diego was given a phantom run to make the game a 1-1 “tie”).
The Padres placed Owen Miller on second base to begin their half of the tenth inning, who scored on an RBI single courtesy of Jake Cronenworth. Pierce Johnson finished the game for the Padres, getting two outs before Angels manager Joe Maddon signaled for the end of the game.
I am currently attending San Diego State University while working on achieving a major in journalism. At SDSU, I write for The Daily Aztec while also hosting the sports radio show “Picked Off”, for KCR Radio. A loyal fan of San Diego sports, I hope to bring content that you will enjoy reading.