Tatis, Paddack help Padres to much-needed win
Credit: AP Photo
The San Diego Padres, fresh off a rare Sunday off-day, picked up a win against a bad Arizona Diamondbacks team on the road, which is something that has eluded them for much of the season.
The Padres put up five runs in the first three innings, jumping on Tyler Gilbert, who did not have the same luck as he did in his no-hitter against the Padres. Chris Paddack returned from the injured list, putting together a rare strong outing, and despite a seventh-inning grand slam allowed by Emilio Pagan, the Padres held on to win.
The Padres offense started with a bang as the slumping Fernando Tatis Jr. blasted a 444 foot home run deep into the left-center field seats. Gilbert placed a curveball on the inside corner, but Tatis held back and got all of it, breaking up the dreams of a second no-hitter for the journeyman Gilbert. Fortune smiled on the Padres in the second inning, as a ground-ball single, two bunt singles, and a double just inside the line. Austin Nola drove home Wil Myers, who doubled to lead off the frame, before Chris Paddack’s bunt single set the Padres up with runners at the corners. Trent Grisham then brought home the fourth run with a beautifully placed bunt single down the first baseline. Based on expected batting average, there was just a one percent chance that all four batted balls resulted in hits.
Chris Paddack returned from his left oblique strain injury, and he allowed just one hit and zero runs through the first four frames he worked. He found himself in some trouble in the fifth, as after retiring the first two batters of the frame, he allowed back-to-back singles. Craig Stammen entered the game, and on his third pitch of the game, he threw a wild pitch, which decreased the Padres lead to four. Stammen retired the final batter of the fifth, and he set down the first two batters of the sixth. He worked his way into trouble, giving up a single and a walk which ended his night. Tim Hill set down Carson Kelly to send the game to the seventh.
Eric Hosmer crushed a ball into centerfield, putting one over 450 feet into the deepest part of Chase Field. Daniel Hudson got off to a terrible start, giving up a walk and a double to the first two batters he saw. He did strike out the next two batters to bring him one out away from getting out of trouble. He then walked Josh Rojas, and due to the fact it was his 26th pitch that he threw, Jayce Tingler chose to switch to Emilio Pagan. Ketel Marte turned on a cut fastball from Pagan, sending it just over the right-field wall.
Pagan picked up the next four outs, preserving the Padres’ one-run lead before the Padres bats woke up in the ninth. Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. hit back to back 400-plus foot doubles off the centerfield wall. Jake Marisnick looked like he might extend the lead even more with a hard-hit line drive, but it ended up being a line-drive double play.
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Mark Melancon came in to pick up the final three outs, and after a Nick Ahmed double, the tying run was at the plate for the final two batters of the game. However, even though Melancon was in a bit of danger, he set down the final two batters to give the Padres a must-needed win.
The Padres win, combined with the Reds’ loss, pulled the Friars within half a game of the second wild-card spot.
Sam is a Senior in High School. He has been writing for three years, and started at EVT in June of 2021. He’s headed to Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications in the fall of 2023.