In the first of three in the friendly combines of Wrigley Field, the Padres got back to their swingin’ ways against the Chicago Cubs. 

Yu Darvish took the mound for the Padres against his former team and twirled a strong outing, his second quality outing in a row.

Darvish went five innings, allowing only three hits and one walk with five strikeouts. His slider was particularly sharp, and he was able to hold the Cubs scoreless, a nice bounceback from his previous outing against Chicago. 

The Padres’ offense was held at bay in the early going against Cubs ace Justin Steele, making his first start since Opening Day. Steele allowed only three hits and a walk while recording two strikeouts over four and two-thirds innings. Steele would exit the game after 68 pitches, likely on a predetermined pitch count. 

The Padres’ offense got to work in the sixth.

If the Cubs had an Achilles’ heel in their previous series, it was their bullpen. This would be the same today. The Padres got two bloop singles and a double steal off Cubs reliever Richard Lovelady, and Jurickson Profar would continue his hot hitting with a base hit past the drawn-in infield to make it 2-0 Padres.

The Friars would add more off new Cubs pitcher Daniel Palencia, with an RBI single by new Padre Donovan Solano and a clutch three-run double to right field by Luis Campusano, making the score 6-0 after the top of the sixth. 

The Cubs would not go down easily, however, as Christopher Morel would hit a two-run homer against Yuki Matsui in the bottom of the sixth, and Yan Gomes would hit a homer of his own in the seventh off Enyel De Los Santos in the seventh. Wandy Peralta would end the seventh inning and come back out for the eighth, but he did not have his stuff today. He walked two of his four batters, including a leadoff walk in the eighth. Mike Shildt would turn to Jeremiah Estrada to bridge the gap, but he would only get one out (a strikeout of Pete Crow-Armstrong) while loading the bases. Robert Suarez would be called upon to get a five-out save, and he would escape the inning with the game still at 6-3. 

In the ninth inning, the Padres would fail to score, sending Suarez back out to the mound with a three-run lead. Suarez would get two strikeouts and a deep fly ball off the bat of Christopher Morel, but the ball would land in the glove of Jackson Merrill to secure a Padres win, bringing the team back to .500. 

The Padres return to action tomorrow, with Randy Vasquez taking the bump against Cubs southpaw Shota Imanaga. The first pitch is at 4:40 pm.

Diego Garcia

A born and raised San Diegan, Diego Garcia is a lifetime Padres fan and self-proclaimed baseball nerd. Diego wrote about baseball on his own site between 2021-22 before joining the East Village Times team in 2024. He also posts baseball content on his YouTube channel “Stat Nerd Baseball”, creating content around trades, hypotheticals, player analyses, the San Diego Padres, and MLB as a whole.

A 2024 graduate of San Diego State, Diego aims to grow as a writer and content creator in the baseball community.