The San Diego Padres have mastered the art of the late rally lately, and they also have Mason Miller to close it out.
The San Diego Padres went south of the border to continue their winning ways tonight as they won the first game of their two game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Mexico City, 6-4, in a game that featured yet another late game rally, a pair of Ty France home runs, a key hit by Jake Cronenworth and a record-setting ninth inning by closer Mason Miller.
The Padres got behind early in this one as the Diamondbacks put up a four-spot in the second inning against German Marquez. Jose Fernandez doubled to score Ildemarro Vargas and Nolan Arenado, and a two-run homer by Alek Thomas upped the score to 4-0.
Arizona kept the score there until the fifth inning, although starter Zac Gallen had to leave the game after getting hit in the shoulder by a liner off the bat of Freddy Fermin with an injury that was later reported as a shoulder contusion. Reliever Brandon Pfaadt picked him up nicely until the fifth, when France’s first solo home run of the day got the Padres on the board.
The wheels fell off for Pfaadt in the seventh as the Padres once again did their come-from-behind routine. Sheets was once again in the middle of the action with an RBI single to drive in two, and Fermin drove in Xander Bogaerts to tie the game at 4-4. Sheets scored on a sac fly by Ramon Laureano, and suddenly it was 5-4 Padres as reliever Taylor Clarke couldn’t pick up Pfaadt and wound up taking the loss. Ty France added an insurance run with his second homer of the day to make it 6-4.
German Marquez did a nice job of holding the fort after giving it up early, and he was able to capitalize on the Padres rally to pick up the win. That set up what’s become the usual sequence of Padres relievers, with Adrian Morejon, Jason Adam and Mason Miller.
Miller pitched a scoreless ninth to get his tenth save of the season, and he now holds the franchise record for scoreless innings with 34-2/3.
Miller’s appearance featured a couple of unusual twists. He didn’t strike out anyone in this one, and with one out he got hit on a comebacker by Jorge Barrosa, but the ball bounced right to Cronenworth at second and he was able to make the throw at first for the second out. A groundout to France at first sealed the win, and Miller appeared unharmed and wasn’t even checked out by a trainer.
The Padres will go for a sweep of this brief two game set tomorrow, with Michael King on the mound against Ryne Nelson of the Diamondbacks.