Six home runs for Padres, Lamet dominant in 9-5 win against Arizona
Credit: Padres
Petco Park – San Diego, California
The San Diego Padres hosted the Arizona Diamondbacks in the rubber match of a three-game series. The Friars needed a win to avoid losing their third-straight series.
The Padres started out flaming hot as they defeated the Diamondbacks 9-5 to improve to (9-7) on the season. Manny Machado led the way with two home runs as the team sent a Petco Park record six homers over the fence.
The starter for the Padres was Dinelson Lamet (1-0, 1.72 ERA) matching up against Diamondbacks starter Madison Bumgarner (0-2, 7.04 ERA), who hasn’t had the best start to his D-backs campaign.
In game one of the series, Padres’ star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a no-doubt home run on the first pitch of the game against pitcher Luke Weaver. In game two, he decided to wait until the second pitch of the game to launch another round-tripper against Merrill Kelly.
This isn’t the first time Tatis Jr. has hit home runs in back-to-back games. What is supernatural is that he has done this on the same exact days before.
August 7 and 8, 2019: Fernando Tatis Jr. hits leadoff home runs in back-to-back games.
August 7 and 8, 2020: Fernando Tatis Jr. hits leadoff home runs in back-to-back games.
*Twilight Zone theme starts playing* pic.twitter.com/qkKMH9NQqK
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 9, 2020
The start of game three provided a different script. After Lamet got through the top-half of the first with ease, Tatis struck out looking to end his first-inning homer streak. In the very next at-bat, Manny Machado (batting in the two spot) sent his third home run of the season deep to left-center field to take a 1-0 lead.
Two batters later, Ty France (who got the start at first base) walked to set up a deep 2-run blast by outfielder Wil Myers and his fifth of the season. The score was 3-0 after one.
SLAP
SOME
CHEESE
ON
IT pic.twitter.com/6ndrxKKrXX— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 9, 2020
It was once again another quick start for the Padres as they have jumped out to an early lead for all three games of this series.
The second inning was almost identical to the first inning. Second baseman Jurickson Profar singled to start the inning. But after two-straight fly outs, Fernando Tatis Jr. launched another towering dinger to left field to take a 5-0 lead. El Niño, as the Padres like to call him, is playing like a true MVP to start this season.
Fernando Tatis Jr. has tied Aaron Judge with his 8th home run of the season. El Niño now has 5 in his last 4 games.
— Bobby Murphy (@bobbymurphy2000) August 9, 2020
What happened on the next at-bat? That’s right, you guessed it. San Diego hit back-to-back home runs as Manny Machado blasted yet another solo shot to left. That was Machado’s second of the game and his fourth of the season as the Friars took a towering 6-0 lead.
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado at the top of the #Padres order for years to come.
That’s the tweet. pic.twitter.com/pJDYuuYMas
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 9, 2020
The Padres’ offense showed up on Sunday. After losing a tough game the previous night, the offense came out with aggression and hit their way to a demanding 9-0 lead in just three innings. Ty France and catcher Francisco Meija both added homers of their own as San Diego knocked-out a season-high six home runs, and six of the nine hitters reached base at least once.
With all these runs scored by the Padres’ offense, it’s easy to ignore the pitching. What Lamet accomplished through five innings was dominant. The hard-throwing right-hander didn’t allow a hit and struck out eight batters on 64 pitches. He retired the first 14 Dbacks in a row before hitting Andy Young with a wild pitch.
Dinelson Lamet, White Castle 6 Pack. 🤢🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔
Just complete filth. pic.twitter.com/pwIuGtw2Pr
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 9, 2020
The Padres’ offense slowed down a bit in the middle innings, but Lamet did not. He continued to mow down Dback hitters striking out ten and not allowing a hit through six innings.
This is an absolute dream game for Padres’ fans as it’s hard to tell if the offense or the pitching by Lamet was more impressive.
All good things must come to an end, though. Arizona outfielder Kole Calhoun was not going to let the Padres throw the first-ever no-hitter in franchise history as he launched an opposite-field home run to lead off the 7th inning.
Lamet would retire the next two hitters, and that would do it as Manager Jayce Tingler came out to congratulate Lamet on another solid performance. Padres’ No. 3 prospect Luis Patiño came in for relief and struck out Andy Young to end the inning.
As unhittable as it gets, @LametRHP 🔥#FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/GvY4ECJoSb
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) August 9, 2020
Patiño walked the bases loaded in the 8th but sent down former Padre Jon Jay swinging to end the inning.
He would remain in the game to start the ninth but gave up a two-run shot to left-center field by Andy Young, and the score was 9-3. That would do it for Patiño as Tim Hill replaced him to finish off the game.
The Dbacks weren’t going away silently, though, as Nick Ahmed hit a two-run homer of his own to cut the lead to 9-5 with two outs. The comeback fell short, though, as Hill then struck out Tim Locastro to end the game.
It was a much-needed win for the Friars as they look on to a four-game series against Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Monday’s matchup is Padres’ Garrett Richards against Dodgers’ Dustin May. May pitched well against the Padres last time out as he got his first win of the season in the 5-2 victory last Tuesday.
Monday’s game will start at 6:40 and will be streamed on FSSD as well as ESPN+.
Games Notes and News
- Jake Cronenworth pinch-hit for Tatis Jr. in the 8th and doubled off Carson Kelly, who pitched as a position player.
- Fernando Tatis Jr. continues to be electric and now has six home runs in his last six games. He finished the game 2-for-4 and is batting .333 on the season with eight HRs and 18 RBIs. His 1.226 OPS (on-base slugging) leads the majors. He is also the first shortstop in the modern era of the game to slug 30 homers in their first 100 games.
- Wil Myers finished the game 2-4 and continues to look impressive this season. He is batting .279 with five HRs, 12 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.017.
- Jurickson Profar finished 2-for-3 and Ty France 1-for-4 with a home run.
- Dinelson Lamet is 2-0 with a 1.61 ERA (10th in MLB) in 22.1 innings pitched. He has 28 K’s and a WHIP of 0.85.
- Luis Patiño has struggled so far in his two appearances. He’s racked up five K’s but has an ERA of 12.27.
- Madison Bumgarner’s ERA climbs to 9.35 in the loss and is 0-3 on the season for Arizona.
Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and now covers San Diego State Men’s Basketball. He also contributes regularly about the Padres. Chris is an athlete and is a huge fan of San Diego sports.