The San Diego Padres used their bullpen to win a tight one and take two out of three from the Los Angeles Angels.
The San Diego Padres posted their fifth straight series win with a victory against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim today, as the Padres rode a strong start from Michael King and their usual fine relief work to win by a 2-1 score. The game also featured yet another save by Mason Miller as he ran his scoreless innings streak to 32-2/3 innings, which is one inning short of the franchise record.
This one started with an unexpected change by the Angels, who made Reid Detmers a late scratch as they called up Walbert Urena from Triple-A Salt Lake to make a surprise start. The Angels didn’t reveal why they made the move before the game, but Detmers threw seven shutouts against the Yankees last week, so it may have been just to give him an extra day of rest.
Whatever the reason, the move worked. The Padres struggled to break through against Urena, and it wasn’t until the fourth inning that they scratched out a run when Xander Bogaerts drove home Fernando Tatis Jr. with an RBI single. Meanwhile, Michael King spun the shutout for Padres for the first five innings as he allowed just one hit. King did walk four, but the Angels were unable to capitalize.
Rod Marinaccio followed with a scoreless sixth inning despite walking two, and the Padres doubled their 1-0 lead in the seventh on an RBI single by Bryce Johnson. Urena was charged with the run, even though reliever Sam Bachman gave up the RBI hit.
The Angels broke through against Kyle Hart, with Zach Neto driving in the run on a groundout to short to make it 2-1. That made it a nail-biter, but Bradgley Rodriguez picked up Hart with some fine relief work, as he struck out two in 1-2/3 innings.
After that it was once again Miller time, and the results were as expected. The closer added two more strikeouts in this one, and he’s now stuck out 27 of the 38 hitters he’s faced. He began this save by establishing his wipeout slider, then mixed in some fastballs that broke 100 mph to end the game.
The Padres have now won five straight series dating back to their road wins over the Boston Red Sox, and they drew to within a half-game of the Los Angeles Dodgers at 15-7. San Diego will now hit the road again for a series at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies, who finally managed to beat the Dodgers today, 9-6.