The San Diego Padres called Mason Miller's number in a non-save situation and he ended up allowing two runs in the team's 9-7 win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday.
The San Diego Padres overcame an early grand slam from catcher Moises Ballesteros to defeat the Chicago Cubs 9-7 in the opener of a three-game series Monday night.
The Padres offense was able to get to Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd in the first inning, scoring three runs on the veteran lefty on an RBI single from center fielder Jackson Merrill and a two-run ground rule double from first baseman Ty France.
The Cubs got one back on a solo home run from right fielder Seiya Suzuki, and then after Padres righty Randy Vasquez recorded the first two outs of the inning, the Cubs loaded the bases for Ballesteros who unloaded on the first pitch he saw to give Chicago a 5-3 lead.
Boyd wasn’t sharp in this one and it allowed San Diego to score another run before he exited in the fifth, but not before third baseman Manny Machado hit his second double of the game to start the inning. If Boyd not having his best stuff wasn’t bad enough for the Cubs, he wasted a challenge on a bad pitch to leadoff hitter Ramon Laureano in the first inning.
It came back to bite Chicago, as after Ballesteros lost the Cubs’ second challenge in the third inning, the Cubs were left with no challenges to overturn a pitch that should have been the third strike on Nick Castellanos and the final out of the inning. Instead, Castellanos roped a single off reliever Ben Brown, scoring two runs to take a 6-5 lead.
San Diego played add-on in the seventh and eighth innings, grabbing a 9-5 lead before the ninth. Closer Mason Miller was already warmed up, so he entered without a save opportunity.
The first batter Miller faced was Matt Shaw, who reached on an infield single that appeared to be foul. France, who moved to third after Machado exited, watched the ball trickle up the third base line and waited to grab it until it went foul. Except, the home plate umpire ruled it a fair ball and it wasn’t reviewable.
Shaw would come around to score after the Cubs loaded the bases and Chicago would score again to end Miller’s scoreless-inning streak at 34.2, a franchise record. It was a judgment call and though it was clearly in foul territory, the umpire got the call wrong.
The Padres will look to win the series in game two and will send right-hander Walker Buehler to take on Cubs righty Edward Cabrera.
Buehler had a rough outing against the Colorado Rockies his last time out, giving up four runs on eight hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 2.2 innings. He is 1-2 with a 5.75 ERA and 1.62 WHIP.
It looked like Buehler was turning a corner after his first two starts didn’t go as planned, throwing 11 innings and allowing two runs on eight hits with one walk and 11 strikeouts over his following two starts, but the Rockies aced him a second time and solved him after getting shutout by over six innings.
Cabrera has enjoyed his first season in Chicago, going 2-0 with a 2.73 ERA and 1.18 WHIP through five starts (29.2 innings). He’s had trouble with walks, posting a 22-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and he’s given up 22 hits and nine earned runs over his last three starts after throwing one-hitters in his first two starts.
First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. PDT on MLB.TV and regional sports networks.