Weathers exits early, Padres’ bats explode in 12-3 rout
Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Chase Field- Phoenix, Arizona
The Padres were shorthanded before the first pitch was even thrown on Wednesday night.
Wil Myers was scratched from the game after being in the lineup originally due to contact tracing procedures. He was later cleared but not in time to start.
As if that was not enough, Ryan Weathers, the scheduled starter, lasted just one inning. After two pitches, Padres manager Jayce Tingler and a team trainer came out to visit him, following a significant dip in velocity. He stayed in to finish the scoreless inning but left after just one inning due to what the Padres are calling left arm soreness. This left the bullpen the daunting task of navigating through eight innings, something that has become commonplace this season.
The Diamondbacks were able to jump on the underbelly of San Diego’s bullpen, scoring a run against both Nick Ramirez and Aaron Northcraft. Arizona carried a 2-0 lead heading to the fifth, and Diamondbacks’ starter Riley Smith was cruising.
The Padres started out the night swinging at the first pitch in seven of their first 12 batters, displaying a hyper-aggressive approach to Smith. For four innings, it led to quick and painless frames for Smith. In the fifth, the tide finally turned in San Diego’s favor. Jurickson Profar led off the inning with a single. After another single by Victor Caratini, Ha-Seong Kim lined a single that ended up scoring Profar and Caratini to tie the game at two.
KIM DRIVES IT IN FOR 2! GAME IS TIED 🔥🔥#HungryForMore l @Padres pic.twitter.com/92EcdxbEyN
— Bally Sports San Diego (@BallySportsSD) April 29, 2021
The Friars were just getting warmed up. Fernando Tatis Jr. lined a go-ahead RBI single before the Padres loaded the bases ahead of Manny Machado. The Padres’ star third baseman then lined a bases-clearing triple down the left-field line, giving the Padres a four-run cushion at 6-2.
Machado just delivered a bases clearing triple!!! Padres lead 6-2! #HungryForMore l @Padres l pic.twitter.com/QNmo4ePnAO
— Bally Sports San Diego (@BallySportsSD) April 29, 2021
In total, the Padres racked up seven consecutive hits against three Diamondbacks pitchers to take a 6-2 lead.
Jake Cronenworth, who originally had the night off, launched a pinch-hit home run in the sixth to extend the lead. Arizona scratched a run across against Emilio Pagan before Tim Hill came in and put together another impressive outing, not allowing a base runner in 1 1/3 innings.
In the top of the eighth, the Padres turned it into a route. Kim continued his hot night by lining an RBI double down the left field line. Myers came off the bench to drive in a run with a single. Tatis came up with runners on first and third and one out and launched a missile deep into right field, and it looked like a back-breaking three-run home run until right fielder Josh Rojas timed his jump perfectly to rob Tatis. A run did score on the sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 10-3. Tatis put the ball in play three times Wednesday night, and all three had an exit velocity north of 100 mph.
Jorge Mateo launched his first career home run in the top of the ninth, extending the route to 12-3. This led to Diamondbacks’ third baseman Asdrubal Cabrera finishing the ninth inning on the mound.
Austin Nola made his season debut, flying out deep to right field against Cabrera. He then helped turn a double play in the ninth inning at second base.
The key stat that led to the offensive explosion for the Padres was their success with runners in scoring position, going 7-for-11. Tatis, Machado, Mateo, and Kim all had multi-hit nights.
A combination of Ramirez, Northcraft, Austin Adams, Pagan, Hill, Drew Pomeranz, and Mark Melancon helped patch together eight innings after Weathers’ early exit. Once again, Padres fans are holding their breath for bad news, as injuries to pitchers has become far too common this season.
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Tingler gave an update on Weathers after the game, “nothing on the inside, more on the back of the forearm. He felt almost dead-armed and fatigued.”
The Padres split the quick two-game series with Arizona and improved to 14-12 ahead of a day off Thursday. The Padres travel home for a key weekend series against the second-place Giants starting Friday.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.
It was nice to see us have an easy game. We can’t be so inconsistent from game to game. We don’t seem to have come together and shared the chemistry we had last year. Not sure why… that Tingler’s issue to solve.
I do wish we’d play a stable lineup day to day. I think occasional days off are good but it seems the team isn’t consistent because the lineup is so inconsistent.