The San Diego Padres finally got an explosion from their lineup as they pounded the Giants into submission.
The San Diego Padres have been talking a lot about getting a breakout performance from their lineup lately, and last night they backed up their words with an impressive offensive display as they erased a 4-1 deficit to down the San Francisco Giants, 10-5.
The win featured yet another lineup shuffle, as manager Craig Stammen elevated Jackson Merrill to the leadoff spot while dropping Fernando Tatis to fifth with Miguel Andujar in the three hole. The move paid off with a big day from Merrill, who had three hits and two RBIs while scoring a pair of runs.
The Padres needed that kind of offense as starter Walker Buehler struggled again. He put the Pads behind right way by giving up a pair of runs in each of the first two innings. Casey Schmitt hit a two-run homer in the first to get the Giants started, and they rallied for two more on an RBI single from Jesus Rodriguez and a ground out by Jung Hoo Lee that scored the run.
San Diego chased Giants starter and eventual loser Logan Webb with a five-run rally in the fourth. The rally featured a double by new addition Sun-Mung Song, who went 2-for-4 with a double, a pair of RBIs and two runs scored in his first start for the Padres at second base. The other RBI hits were supplied by Merrill and Nick Castellanos, and once the Padres had the lead they didn’t look back.
The second-line relievers in the Padres pen held up well, limiting the Giants to just one run after Buehler left the game in the sixth. Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam and Rod Marinaccio did solid work as the offense continued to mash, and the Padres pounded out 14 hits to get Buehler the win. The lone homer came from Xander Bogaerts as he hit his sixth of the year, a solo shot in the second that got the scoring started.
There was some bad news for the Padres, however, as they placed Jake Cronenworth on the seven-day IL due to lingering concussion issues that started after the second baseman was hit in the jaw last month in Anaheim. That will put Song in the lineup for an extended stretch, so it will be interesting to see if he can continue to hit.
The Padres will send Matt Waldron to the mound today in the rubber game of the series against Adrian Houser this afternoon, so there’s a good chance they’ll need to have their hitting shoes on again.