Padres vs Brave recap: The Padres are a late-inning winning team

Over the weekend, the San Diego Padres won a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves.

The San Diego Padres took two out of the three games. The one loss was on Saturday. They lost 6-5 in a close game that actually was not particularly close until the bottom of the eighth inning. 

The Padres had been playing well the whole game. The score was 5-2 Padres entering the bottom of the eighth. According to the ESPN gamecast, the Padres had a 93.6% chance to win the game going into the bottom of the eighth, and that percentage dropped drastically throughout the bottom of the inning. 

Padres starting pitcher Sean Manaea pitched seven innings and had 12 strikeouts, which was just one shy of his career-high. However, he was taken out of the game after giving up a walk to Adam Duvall to begin the bottom of the 8th. Reliever Steven Wilson came in to replace Manaea. The goal was to hold the lead for Taylor Rogers to finish the game in the bottom of the ninth. 

Unfortunately, the game did not go to the bottom of the ninth.

Wilson gave up three runs, along with an additional run from the walk given up by Manaea. This was Wilson’s second blown save of the season, and it was his first loss of the season.

Even with the blunder coming from the bullpen, the Padres still managed a series win. They won games on Friday and Sunday. The Padres have been scoring late in games when it matters most, with 14 runs coming in the final four innings of each game of the series, not including the four runs scored in the 11th inning of Sunday’s game to win 7-3 and earn the series victory. 

After the series win against the Braves, the Padres are now 22-13. The record is good for first place in the National League West over the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants. Interestingly enough, the Padres actually have a much lower run differential than the other two teams. The Padres have a +16 run differential compared to +69 for the Dodgers and +42 for the Giants.

Veteran second baseman Robinson Cano was signed to the Padres for infield depth over the weekend.

Cano made his Padres debut on Sunday, but he went 0-for-5. Even if he is unable to play at the level that made him an All-Star eight times in his career, his presence as a veteran with plenty of experience can help some of the players on the Padres. Cano was even able to give tips to the players about the Braves because he played against the Braves earlier this season when he was on the Mets.

For the upcoming away series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Padres will be switching up their rotation with Blake Snell intending to return from the 15-day IL. Snell will start Wednesday. It is uncertain how exactly this will affect the Padres roster. Some pitchers could go to the bullpen or even be sent down to Triple-A. 

However, the Padres will be playing 40 games in the next 42 days. This leaves only two days out of that stretch to rest. Because of this, it might be wise to keep a six-man rotation. This will give all of the pitchers an extra day of rest compared to a five-man rotation.