Padres eek out a single against Cueto who has had something of a return to form early in the 2020 season. He has historically been hard to hit because of his awkward stuttering delivery. Nevertheless Machado goes to the third baseman with an infield hit that can’t quite be executed for an out. The Padres though are fruitless in the first.
Paddack comes in and retires three straight. He locks locked-in.
Padres with no outs in the top of the second find themselves with a runner on first and a very good hitter in Oracle park up to the plate – Wil Myers, who is in for Hosmer (lineup wise), who seems to have a recurring stomach issue. Hopefully it is something simple. Myers strikes out. His consistency is always a bit under scrutiny.
In other news, the red-hot Cubs have just lost to the Reds, so they will not go to 5 wins, and the Rays are losing to the brave sin the bottom of the seventh. It’s possible that the Padres could be the first 5 game winner in the Majors. The cubs did not let that loss happen very easily in the last few innings, coming from a huge deficit to make the score line seem much more reasonable.
Mike Moustakis and the Reds starters are on fire, while the Reds relievers seem just horrible. The Reds and the Indians are right up there with the Rays for the best current in shape starting rotation in baseball. Right now, thanks to multiple injuries and performance issues, this is where is seems to stand. The Yankees are still strong, the Astros still look OK, but take a huge blow losing Verlander, and with Greinke out of form. Dodgers are not quite delivering on the starting pitcher front quite yet, though they will likely return to form with some healing. Washington doesn’t look stellar like they did last year. Colorado pitching has been fantastic, but it’s been throughout the entire pitching crew.
Cueto balks, sending the runner forward. His delivery style is very prone to be called out for balking. He walks Cronenworth, who by the way is still hitting 1.000. A double play ends the inning. Cueto isn’t quite cruising, but he has been effective thus far.
A lead-off triple to a well-fooled Grisham puts the Giants within scoring distance with Hunter Pence at bat. Paddack is still showing his control, but he is definitely sweating right now. Paddack goes aggressive and fans Pence on some elevated heat. It’d be a nice test to pass to see Paddack get out of this quagmire. He knows that was a misplayed ball, and it should have been a very simple catch to make. The way the ballpark plays at Oracle and the Grisham comfort level playing in the position both contribute to that triple.
Paddack is about to make the play on a line back to him, but he can’t hold onto the glove and the ball bobbles out of it. It seems to have hit his thumb or wrist, and the medical staff makes a brief trip to the mound. It seems he is fine. Runners on corners due to two hard hit balls, and a third totally playable ball get s botched in foul territory by the second baseman. Garcia should have reeled that in easily, even as Cronenworth who seems to be a more direct replacement for Hosmer, falls over. And paddock has an earned run with a very unfortunate set of defensive issues.
Tommy Pham is still on pace to tie Alan Wiggins record for single season stolen bases for the Padres. The player that saw Hunter Renfroe replaced in SD, is surely watching Renfroe begin to perform for the Rays. Renfroe has had a very good couple of games of late, and the Rays are level with the Padres in the W-L department.
Nothing doing for the Padres for the first part of the inning – Cueto looks to be settling in. A settling in Cueto can be a very tough to hit Cueto. He runs long against Grisham out to 3-2, with 2 out. He’s also thrown 50 pitches. Cueto ALMOST grabs a foul ball near the dugout. Dude is no spring chicken, but he sure looked fast. He’s been catching his breath for about 3 minutes now. He walks Grisham. Probably due to heavy breathing. Manny Machado who is always a swing away from punishing a pitcher is not up with the Padres having been excellent in run production this year with 2 outs.
Cueto is at 54 pitches but he runs Machado 0-2 quickly.
And Machado evens the score and then some. He truly can punish a pitcher in a single swing.
This author would like to see Pham get on base and then steal a base, to stay on track to beat Alan Wiggins stolen base record for the Padres. Sure, I play about this stolen base thing with Pham, but it’d be really cool to see some progress by Padres players this season. They’ve already done quite well int heir first 5 games. Pham is in the position to steal too, though, as he is walked by Cueto. Cueto feels good walking out of what could have been more drastic damage as he K’s Garcia. Padres are still crushing it with 2 outs this season.
Mike Yastrzemski looks incredible this year. He is channeling “Grandpa Carl” so far. His “anomaly season last year sure doesn’t seem like an anomaly. He seems poised to be in the running for an MVP spot, depending on how well the Giants can do. They have already done the unthinkable splitting a series with the Dodgers. If he can maintain his contact for the season, he will definitely be a proven entity in MLB.
He smashes a homerun out of the ballpark to the kayakers. The game is tied again. Paddack got into trouble much the same way last year as he let his ERA creep up. He still looks good, but Mike Yaz looked better there.
By the way Mike Yastrzemski is hitting .368 with a .478 OBP; .632 SLG and 1.110 OPS. He looks unreal every single game as he seems to come up clutch in one way or another for the Giants, who are doing much better than this author expected. That slash line looks an awful lot like his Grandfather’s career year numbers. But let’s not get too excited yet, he’s played 6 games and had 19 at bats. He is definitely one to watch.
Tatis salvages that inning grabbing a fun pop up. By the way, he is getting more consistent on the year and also looks a strong contender for early MVP candidates in the National league depending on how the standings end up. Again, it’s early, but he seems to keep making good on the promise every San Diego supporter has assigned to him.
If the Dodgers lose tonight (they are currently in the 11th tied with Houston 1-1), the series starting on the 31st of this month will be incredibly important in defining the outcome of the NL West. The Padres and Rockies are set to meet in Colorado, both currently sitting on a 4-1 record. The Padres still in it to potentially end the night as baseball’s first 5 game winner. Only the Dodgers have a better run differential in the majors than the Padres. The Padres are +14 runs, and the Dodgers are +15. But both are tied, and it’s far more likely the Padres go up on that statistic this evening thanks to timing and current outcomes.
Edward Olivares is up with Myers on first base and 2 outs. Can the Padres continue their hot streak with 2 outs?
The NL West looks to be easily the most difficult division to play in, with the AL central trailing slightly. This is really a year that no one could predict. Myers takes second base awkwardly as he is hit by the catcher’s throw. He doesn’t appear to be the fastest runner in the world – but he is smart on the basepaths. It shows that Tingler is playing smart, tactical baseball. Running counts in 2020.
This could be a dangerous inning if Cueto cannot retire the batter. Tatis is on deck, with Anderson up in the SFG bullpen. Myers on second. Myers to score on a bloop base hit to left. Cueto seems to be staying on the mound to face Tatis. Scratch that. There’s a meeting at the mound. Cueto goes out of the game in the top of the fourth on the hook for the loss. Padres lead 3-2, and continue the VERY important streak of run production with 2 outs.
This 2-out situation has been a GAME CHANGER for the San Diego Padres in 2020. They have been absolutely clutching in that situation. Running has been on point, run production has been on point with runners in scoring position. They Padres and Dodgers are still a run apart on run differential, as Dodgers score in the 11th.
This division is proving to be one of the most exciting in Baseball. The AL West and NL Central would have been my picks before the beginning of the year. And here we are, and the opposite seems to be true. The NL West and the AL Central look like unbelievable races to be settled.
Tatis is walked and Grisham comes to the plate with a runner in scoring position. Two outs again, and Padres are threatening in the top of the Fourth.
Oliveras seems dangerously long off of second right now. He is grabbing the attention of the pitcher. It doesn’t matter. Trent Grisham has blasted a home run to Right Center. It’s a 3-run homer and the Padres are up 6-2 and clear by a couple of runs now in differential. Machado wants to add more, but he won’t as he grounds to the third baseman for a routine putout.
It cannot be stated enough, how impressive the Padres are with 2 outs.
As a side note the Dodgers and Astros are tied up again in the bottom of the 11th. It must be eating up the Dodgers to be below their So-Cal rival Padres and be tied against arguably still the best team in baseball on paper, despite some difficulties by the Astros this year.
Paddack’s first pitch to Hunter Pence is a strike. The second sees Pence pop up to the right side of the infield to Cronenworth, who has been relatively impressive. Chris paddock K’s the batter and moves to 68 pitches on the night. He’s not been as efficient, but he does seem to have settled a bit in the past inning or so. 2 out in the Bottom of the 4th. Paddack keeps a clean sheet in the fourth as well.
Padres up in the top of the 5th, leading 6-2.
Shaun Anderson retires Pham after he takes a lump to the leg and the second baseman puts out Pham at first on the ricochet off of Anderson. He exits the game by choice of the coaching staff in favor of a reliever – Tyler Anderson. He too, has an awkward delivery to fac with a stuttering arm out of glove motion that looks like a bad rendition of the Robot.
Wil Myers is on with a single. Cronenworth was batting 1.000 at the start of the night, he’s now at .333. We go to the Giants half of the inning.
Having Machado and Tatis on the left side of the infield proves again to be a blessing. Stellar defensive work, making it look routine by Machado to end the inning. The score line stays intact. Paddack on Cruise Control.
Paddack could go sub 1.50 with 2 wins and more than 10 K’s if he stays in another inning or two with this kind of command. He’d be nipping at the heels of guys like Sonny Gray and Shane Bieber who have been crushing this year if he could do that.
Tatis up against Tyler Anderson and goes deep to right but it’s caught. Grisham drops a flawless hard but not the right side and gets an infield hit and moves the runner up. Small ball for the win. Manny Machado up with two men on, one in scoring position. Tyler Anderson is caught up with the runner at second and gets distracted. A force at third ends the inning on a ball hit hard to the left side.
David Bednar gets taken deep on his first pitch of the night by Dickerson. Pence now up. Dickerson has been pretty good so far tonight. Pence hits it well, but Grisham hauls it in. Bednar has some nasty stuff, but he does need to get settled here. Paddack is still on hook for the win. He’s sitting at 1.80 ERA and has 9 K’s this year. Super respectable numbers for a second-year pitcher. Machado puts out Solano at first and Bednar gets out of the inning.
If the Padres pitchers are able to hold the Giants scoreless through nine, they will top the entire MLB in pitching in several categories. Including W-L, and a couple of advanced metrics They’d b in 4th overall in ERA. As it stands, the Rockies are top of the MLB in pitching with 4-1 1.84 ERA, which has been their strength. The Dodgers and Indians slightly behind them. The Indians and Reds seem unstoppable in their stating rotations this year. Cleveland has 72 K’s; the Reds have 83K’s; Notably Cleveland has only allowed 8 walks along with the AL-leading 72K’s. All of their starters (including the Rays and Rockies) have been intensely good.
Padres lead the game still 6-3 at the seventh inning stretch. Tim Hill gets up in the bullpen for the SDP.
Bednar hasn’t looked particularly bad, but he does seem to be a bit shaky on some deliveries. Of course, he let that home run get smashed the first pitch, so there’s that. Bednar leaves as Hill jogs to the mound.
Mike Yastrzemski comes up and he is hitting .400. What a great story he has. No net result for the Giants in the bottom of the 7th, and now faces Tatis after walking a batter. Tatis has been flirting with .300 of late but can’t seem to get solidly above the mark. He currently sits at .273. Unbelievably Oliveras gets picked off at first. Great thinking by Tyler Anderson. Very poor judgement by Olivares. There was a wild pitch/passed ball the very next pitch too. Anderson walks Tatis. There are two outs and Grisham is up, so the Padres are still a threat if the previous 5 games are any indicator.
The move over to first was awfully close to a balk, and the runner really botched the play. Anderson’s move over to first is deceptive and seems to be a balk nearly every time. But the Giants ask for a review. Tatis seems like he may be out in the replay, and Anderson may have two pick-offs back to back. I think Tatis is awaiting the inevitable. His oven mitt doesn’t seem to have reached the base before he was tagged. The Inning is over. That Anderson move to first is borderline illegal, and yet very effective all at once. That awkward stutter step and arm movement makes it easy for him and hard for runners to see when it’s coming their way.
A late update, but the Dodgers did prevail in 13 innings to win against the Houston Astros 4-2. They improve to 4-2 record, but the Padres still top the division with the Rockies. If the Padres can minimize the Giants here, they will lead all of baseball through 6.
Craig Stammen is on the mound for SD, and the Giants have their 3 slot hitter up, Flores. Stammen runs the count to 3-1. Chris Paddack is still on the line for the win. He will be among the top 5 pitchers in the National League if this result stands and arguably top 6 in all of baseball thus far all things considered.
You could make a case for Top-3 in the NL, if you tried hard enough.
Dickerson is a tough out tonight. He faces Stammen now. Stammen walks him. Pence has been largely minimized in this first 6 games for the Giants. I’d be willing to bet he isn’t used to that feeling. Runners are at the corners, the tying run is at the plate, as Brandon Crawford lines a single to right and Dickerson goes to third. Stammen is viably shaken. Solano has hit him well of late. Unbelievably, the Giants have tied this game on a three-run home run by Solano.
It almost seems unreal to be watching it as it seemed so orchestrated. Now, Paddack loses his win opportunity. It’s a shame, regardless of outcome now. Strahm is up in the bullpen, he has been for a few minutes. Stammen gives up a hit to Slater. This was just about always the Padres game to lose, and now, the stress has overcome their pitching staff. Paddack has got to be steaming in the dugout, as he pitched an excellent game despite a couple of small issues.
Slater takes second base easily, and the Giants are threatening to take the lead here in the bottom of the 8th. His slide into second may be the worst slide I’ve seen in a decade. Strahm gets the batter and Padres have life still. They’d be smart to score here though, with the home field advantage going to the SFG.
The Padres fans almost forgot what it was like to have their hearts broken… here in the top of the ninth, they can still remember, surely. Machado walks with 1 out in the ninth, with Pham up, and that go-ahead run looks so hopeful. It isn’t. It ends the inning as a double play.
Mike Yastrzemski has been the MVP of this game with a walk-off home run and an earlier one. This may be a sign of things to come. He has been unreal this year. His DNA, or his work ethic, it doesn’t really matter. This kid has been an unbelievable asset already in his young career with the SF Giants. Giants walk it off 7-6. Things just go infinitely more interesting in the NL West. It is easily the most competitive division in baseball.
This result is pretty annoying for Padres fans, but baby this is baseball. #WelcomeBack #WelcomeBack #WelcomeBack