Padres unleash a spring training offensive explosion, crushing the Mariners with a record-setting eight home runs and a staggering 27 runs.
The San Diego Padres' spring training games continued on Thursday against the Seattle Mariners in the Cactus League.
Usually, spring training games are a perfect chance for teams to figure out which players they are going to use during the season. And, with a flurry of Padres going to the World Baseball Classic -- including Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Fernando Tatis Jr. - the starting lineup looked a bit different for Craig Stammen.
Walker Buehler got the start on the mound as he competes for a final rotation spot, and Buehler pitched pretty well, throwing three innings while giving up two runs on two hits.
But, the offense was the story as the bats came to life in an unexpected way. In the second inning, the Padres put up a 12-spot, then a 5-spot, and they scored at least one run in the 2nd-9th innings.
Here is how the 12-run second inning went for San Diego:
- Miguel Andujar ground out
- Sung-Mun Song home run
- Ty France double
- Freddy Fermin RBI double
- Jake Cronenworth walk
- Jackson Merrill reached on fielding error
- Ramon Laureano 2RBI single
- Gavin Sheets RBI single
- Nick Castellanos single
- Andujar RBI walk
- Song strikeout
- France 2RBI double
- Fermin 2RBI single
- Cronenworth 2RBI home run
- Merrill single
- Laureano double
- Sheets fly out
Here are some of the home runs just from the second inning alone.
Then, Fermin and Merrill both hit a home run in the third inning, which brought the score to 17-2.
Andujar hit a home run in the fourth inning, Tirso Ornelas, who was designated for assignment and brought back, homered in the sixth, Bryce Johnson in the seventh, and even Nick Schnell in the eighth.
Schnell's home run moved the score to 26-4, but Jared Sundstrom hit a solo home run to give the Mariners their fifth run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Mariners veteran Luis Castillo got the start for Seattle but went just 1.1 innings, giving up five earned runs on six hits before being removed from the game.
JP Sears threw three innings and gave up two runs for the Padres, and Triston McKenzie threw 1.2 innings while giving up one run as they battled it out, each of them hoping for one of the final rotation spots. In total,
And, although it is spring training, the Padres broke their record for most home runs in a game. It was seven, but the Padres hit eight in eight innings on Thursday.
Just for good measure, Romeo Sanabria drove in a run on a groundout in the ninth inning to make it 27-6, and give the Padres a run in every inning except the first.
In total, Stammen used 23 players, 14 drove in at least one run, and 17 recorded at least one hit. Fermin had the biggest day, going 3-for-3 with six RBIs and just a triple short of the cycle.
Oh. Here's another fun fact: The Padres haven't scored this many runs in a spring training game since 2016.
And, hey, this was WITHOUT Tatis, Machado and Bogaerts, but it's also spring training.