Tatis exits injured, Padres with 7-5 win
Credit: AP Photo
Petco Park- San Diego, California
The top of 5th inning on Saturday went about as poorly as possible for the San Diego Padres.
Not only did the Padres surrender their 5-2 lead, but Fernando Tatis Jr. exited with a left shoulder injury, the same shoulder that bugged him during spring training and that he injured in the first week of the season.
“When he dove and hit the ground in full extension and kind of tweaked that shoulder a little bit,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said. “He was petitioning to stay in. I just thought at the end of the day to be more precautionary with it. The testing and everything afterwards, the strength and range of motion, felt pretty good. We feel like we are in a fairly decent position. The trainers feel like it’s nowhere near where we were early this season.”
When Tatis Jr. left, Ha-Seong Kim replaced him at shortstop. Kim ended up being the hero with a two-run home run down the left-field line into the Western Metal Supply Co. building to lift the Padres to a 7-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
Kim answers the call.#HungryForMore pic.twitter.com/fXVxbutLVf
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 20, 2021
“I was just enjoying the moment,” Kim said through a translator. “I was just so happy, and with Melancon coming in for the ninth, I was confident he was going to close the game.”
In order to prepare for the upcoming series against the Dodgers, the Padres opted to go with a bullpen game for Saturday. That meant that Miguel Diaz started the game for San Diego. Last time Diaz started in this opener role, he threw three scoreless innings. Diaz was not as successful this time around, allowing a run each of his two innings pitched.
Welcome to The Show, Daniel Camarena! pic.twitter.com/aCp6445zSK
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 20, 2021
Daniel Camarena, a Cathedral Catholic High School alum, relieved Diaz for his first career MLB appearance. Camarena looked like he belonged in his first two innings by rolling through the talented Reds lineup without allowing a run. He went out for a third inning, which was probably a mistake, and got charged with the three runs that eventually scored.
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Nabil Crismatt got his name called for the sixth inning, with the score tied at five. When Crismatt exited in the eighth inning, he racked up scoreless innings of his own, and the score remained tied at five. Crismatt received the win after Kim homered in the bottom of the eighth.
The other five runs scored on just two swings from the middle of the Padres order. After a Tatis Jr. infield single, Jake Cronenworth pummeled a home run into the right-field stands to tie the game in the third inning. In the next inning, after the top of the lineup loaded the bases, Manny Machado lined the first pitch into the outfield for a bases-clearing triple.
A Manny Machado double clears the bases and tacks on 3️⃣ for the Padres! pic.twitter.com/BCX1yibAnO
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 20, 2021
Dinelson Lamet and the Padres will look for the sweep over the Reds on Sunday. The first pitch will be at 1:10 PT.
Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”