San Diego rebounded from a cold start in San Francisco, utilizing explosive hitting and clutch relief pitching to pull within a half-game of the division lead.
The San Diego Padres head back home to Petco Park from San Francisco with a series win, even after losing the first of three. After taking two of three in a series with a struggling divisional rival, the Giants, the Padres remain less than one game out of first place in the National League West.
The trip up to NorCal started shaky for the Padres, as the offense continued its subpar play by only scoring two runs on three hits. Luckily, two of those hits came as solo shots from outfielders Jackson Merrill and Ramon Laureano, their fourth and fifth on the year, respectively.
With Merrill’s second hit of the game being the only other hit from a Padre on Monday night, the three runs given up by the pitching staff were all that was needed to drop the series opener to a score of 3-2.
Bouncing back from their quiet offensive night in the first game, the Padres’ bats exploded for 10 runs in the second meeting of the series. Giants pitcher Logan Webb held the Padres’ bats at bay for the most part during the first three innings, but a five-run fourth inning put the game heavily in San Diego’s favor.
In just his second major league game, infielder Sung-Mun Song delivered a two-hit, two-RBI performance, including his first career extra-base hit. Totaling 14 hits in the game and going 6 for 12 with runners in scoring position, San Diego cruised to a win despite early troubles on the mound from starter Walker Buehler. 10-5 was the final scoreline for Tuesday’s game.
That left the fate of the series up to game three on Wednesday afternoon. Reliever Bradgley Rodriguez opened the contest for the Padres before Matt Waldron stepped in for five innings out of relief after the first inning. He punched out seven batters and allowed just two hits and one run during his outing.
From there, it was up to San Diego’s bats to win the ballgame. The Padres’ lineup didn’t have a terrific day at the plate, but they did enough to put up five runs on six hits, including a two-run shot from Xander Bogaerts in the eighth inning. It was his second consecutive game with a homer.
Winning game three to a score of 5-1, the Padres made up for their slip-up in the first game of the series. By coming back and winning the series, the top of the NL West remains as close as it could get; just 0.5 games away.
A convincing 12-2 win on Wednesday for the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers kept San Diego in second place, but they are gearing up to play the current best team in baseball, the Atlanta Braves.
San Diego will certainly be rooting for the Braves in the series, but they’ve got a tough matchup of their own to gear up for over the weekend. A four-game home stand against the 21-15 St. Louis Cardinals is set to begin on Thursday night.
With the sole possession of first place in the NL West up for grabs, this weekend was as important as a weekend in the beginning of May could get. For now, the Padres heading into off the backs of an away series win is a good place to start.