The San Diego Padres haven't shown much offense so far, but Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill Homered in Their 8-6 Win.
The San Diego Padres won their first series of the season, coming back on the road to take the rubber game today against the Boston Red Sox, 8-6, as the offense finally showed signs of genuine life.
This was a back-and-forth battle in which both teams finally showed their offensive potential. The Padres found themselves down 4-0 after three when Walker Buehler walked back-to-back batters to start the inning, and Masataka Yoshida, Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu took advantage of Buehler’s wildness with extra base hits to score the runs.
It looked like a long day waiting to happen, but the Padres came right back to draw to within one in the fourth, as Nick Castellanos keyed a three-run rally by supplying his first meaningful offense as a Padre. Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez lost the strike zone and got consistently behind in counts, and the Padres responded by knocking Suarez around, with Jackson Merrill driving in one run with a single as Castellanos plated a pair by doing the same.
The Padres completed their comeback and took the lead the next inning as their power finally showed up. Manny Machado did the honors with a three run-bomb against reliever Greg Weissert to put San Diego up 6-4, but this game wasn’t over yet.
The Red Sox countered with two runs in the seventh off relievers Bradgley Rodriguez and Wandy Peralta to tie the score at 6-6, with an RBI double by Yoshida driving in both runs.
But the Padres had power to spare on this particular day, and it was Jackson Merrill who hit San Diego’s second long ball of the day, and his homer off losing pitcher Tyler Uberstine proved to be the winning run. A sacrifice sly by Tatis Jr. in the ninth off Zach Kelly added a valuable insurance run, and for the second day in a row it became Mason Miller time.
Miller showed his closer stuff again with another dominant performance, as he struck out the side for the second time in back-to-back games to get his fourth save. The Padres haven’t given Miller many opportunities, but this weekend made it obvious that their new closer will continue to be a crucial part of their winning formula, and Jeremiah Estrada got the win by throwing a clean inning in front of Miller in the eighth.
The loss sent the reeling Red Sox into a genuine tailspin as they dropped to 2-7, while the Padres climbed back to within a game of .500 at 4-5. San Diego hit the ball hard all day long once they got on the board, and they’ll hope to do more of the same in Pittsburgh tomorrow night as they send German Marquez to the mound against young Bubba Chandler.