The San Diego Padres won a home series against the San Francisco Giants.
The Padres lost the first game, but then ended up winning the last two games to take the series victory. The first game of the series was an extension of the Padres’ scoreless-inning streak. The streak ended up lasting 26 innings, going back to the series prior when the Padres faced the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres ended their scoreless-inning streak with a bang, producing plenty of offense in the last two games of the series.
The first game of the series was a close, nail-biting match between the two teams. Starting pitcher Blake Snell continued his solid stretch since the All-Star break. He was not highly efficient, throwing 103 pitches in five â…” innings. However, he only gave up one run on six hits and two walks. He also struck out eight San Francisco batters in his outing.
The offense for the Padres was lackluster in this one.
The team was only able to tally five hits, with none of them resulting in a run. The Padres initially tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, as first baseman Brandon Drury slid at home plate and was called safe. Unfortunately, in a controversial review of the play, the call was overturned and Drury was ruled out at the plate.
Despite excellent pitching performances by relief pitchers Nick Martinez and Josh Hader at the end of the game, it did not matter. The Padres lost this game with a score of 1-0.
In the second game of the series, the Padres provided much more offense. The Padres had 11 hits and three walks, with most of the production coming from the top four hitters in the lineup.
Starting pitcher Joe Musgrove bounced back after a rough outing against the Colorado Rockies in his previous start. He pitched seven innings, giving up only one run on six hits. He also had four strikeouts and did not give up a walk. Unfortunately, his solid start and potential win was blown by closing pitcher Josh Hader. Hader gave up three runs in the top of the ninth inning to blow the save and tie the game at 4-4.
Fortunately, the Padres responded well after the blown save. Third baseman Manny Machado came up to bat with two runners on base. He proceeded to hit a three-run home run to give the Padres a 7-4 walk-off victory.
The third and final game of the series was an absolute explosion from the Padres’ lineup.
Each player in the lineup had at least one hit, and six of the players had at least one RBI. All of the Padres’ 13 runs came in only two innings; six runs in the third inning, and seven runs in the sixth inning.
Starting pitcher Sean Manaea was not great in this game, but he did improve from his previous start, when he gave up eight runs in four innings against the Dodgers. Manaea pitched five innings and gave up three earned runs. The Padres ended up winning this game with a score of 13-7.
The Padres now have a record of 63-51, and they have virtually no shot at winning the National League West division this season. The team is now in the third NL Wild Card spot because of a hot streak by the Philadelphia Phillies, which put the Phillies ahead of the Padres for the second spot.
The Padres will face the Washington Nationals on the road in their upcoming series.