No Mason Miller, no problem for the San Diego Padres.
Adrian Morejon came in for the third time in as many days having thrown 27 pitches over the previous two outings. San Diego’s All-Star closer was unavailable to close out a 5-4 comeback win for the Padres over the Washington Nationals at Petco Park on Tuesday which set the stage for Morejon. The left-hander needed just seven pitches to get through the top of the ninth inning to save a one-run win over the Nationals. Morejon’s performance was just what
San Diego needed after a four-run bottom of the eighth inning gave the Padres the lead.
San Diego trailed throughout the game and did not have a hit against Washington, which employed a bullpen game. Luis Campusano hit a line drive single to left field in the bottom of the fifth inning for the first hit of the game for the Padres and he was responsible for what proved to be the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth inning. Campusano hit a broken bat flare into shallow center field that fell between three Washington fielders. That allowed Manny Machado to score to give the Padres their fourth run of the inning and the first lead of the game.
Machado was at the plate earlier in the inning with San Diego trailing 4-2 with one out in the eighth. Freddy Fermin was on third base and Fernando Tatis Jr. was at second after a walk and a passed ball allowed him to get on base and move into scoring position. Machado battled in his at-bat before he was able to chop a changeup back through the middle of the infield into center field. Fermin scored easily and Tatis was able to score standing up to tie the game at 4-4.
The Padres got their first run of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning when Jackson Merrill hit a sacrifice fly ball to right field, with Machado on third base and Ty France at second. The sacrifice by Merrill allowed Machado to tag up and score to get San Diego on the board, 3-1. Yuki Matsui surrendered a run in the top of the eighth, which put the Padres down 4-1 before the eighth inning heroics gave them the lead and eventually the win.
Casey Mize started for San Diego and had a solid outing. He allowed three runs on four hits over 5.2 innings. Mize allowed one walk and struck out seven batters. He left the game with the Padres trailing 1-0 but had runners at first and second after allowing a double and a walk. Randy Vasquez came on to try to get San Diego out of the inning needing just one more out. He allowed a double to Brady House, which allowed both Washington runners to score, giving Mize three earned runs in the game.
San Diego will go for the series sweep today at 1:10 p.m. If the Padres can complete the sweep, they will finish their home stand with a 5-1 record before hitting the road for three games in San Francisco and four games in Colorado.
Padres News:
- Thomas Conroy of Gaslamp Ball believes Joe Musgrove may have given the Friar Faithful a hint at his future in recent comments.
- Jason Adam is working in the minor league system, attempting to make his return to the Padres.
- The Padres added a veteran reliever on a minor league deal after releasing two other players in the minor league system earlier in the day.
Baseball News:
- The Milwaukee Brewers got a walk-off win over the Chicago Cubs to earn their 90th win of the season.
- Cam Schlittler continued his dominant season and led the New York Yankees to a win.
- Corbin Burnes returned for the Arizona Diamondbacks who got another extra-innings win over the Kansas City Royals.
- The Houston Astros edged out the Philadelphia Phillies in a 6-5 win.
- Kazuma Okamoto hit his 30th home run of the season and the Toronto Blue Jays topped the Athletics.
