What appeared to be a game where the San Diego Padres were going to be able to rest their high-leverage bullpen arms turned into a game where those same arms needed to secure the win against the Colorado Rockies.
The Padres took a 7-0 lead after three innings thanks in part to a blend of small ball and the long ball. Jackson Merrill and Jake Cronenworth recorded bunt singles in the first inning that led to San Diego scoring three runs.
Merrill returned to the
plate in the bottom of the second inning and blasted a three-run home run to left-center field that put the Padres ahead 6-0 in the second.
San Diego started the bottom of third inning with three straight singles that resulted in a run. The third single was hit by Freddy Fermin and scored Cronenworth to give the Padres a 7-0 lead.
Yu Darvish was the starting pitcher for San Diego and enjoyed the early run support. Darvish cruised through the first three innings, but allowed a solo home run to Mickey Moniak in the top of the fourth to make the score, 7-1.
Darvish rebounded and did not allow another run until the top of the sixth inning. Darvish allowed back-to-back singles to start the inning. Jeremiah Estrada came in to pitch for the Padres and allowed a three-run home run to Moniak on the first pitch he threw. The homer made the score, 7-4.
Adrian Morejon pitched the top of the sixth inning and allowed a two-out RBI-double to Ezequiel Tovar to make the score, 7-5. Morejon then faced Moniak, who hit his second RBI-single of the game and made the score, 7-6.
Mason Miller came in for Morejon and ended the top of the sixth inning with a strikeout. Miller stayed on the mound for the eighth inning and retired all three batters.
Mason McCoy started the bottom of the eighth inning with a double. Fernando Tatis Jr. singled and stole second to put runners at second and third with no outs. After back-to-back strikeouts of Merrill and Ramón Laureano, Gavin Sheets deliver a ground-rule double that pushed the San Diego lead to 9-6.
Robert Suarez came on to seal the win for the Padres in the top of the ninth inning and worked around an error on Jose Iglesias to record three strikeouts to get the save.
San Diego is off Monday. The Padres return to action in Queens against the New York Mets, Tuesday at 4:10 p.m.
