After a 2-4 homestand against the Ohio teams, the Don Mattingly honeymoon officially ended as the Phillies traveled out west for their next six games against two of the better teams in the National League. The Padres, like the Phillies, possess an anemic offense that has been carried by plenty of front line pitching.
The Padres did not send one of their two front line starters on the mound Monday night, instead having Griffin Canning, who is trying to rebound his value after an ACL tear ended his 2025
season with the Mets. After a Trea Turner strikeout, Kyle Schwarber set the tone by somehow pulling a well located down and away changeup for a solo home run to right field.
Jesús Luzardo entered last night’s contest with a 2.73 ERA over his previous six starts. The BABIP luck and issues with runners on base regressed to the mean with not much else changing around it.
None of that seemed to matter in the first inning. Fernando Tatis jr hit a soft dribbler to no man’s land for an infield hit, Miguel Andujar poked a single into center field, and then Turner botched a Xander Bogaerts groundball. The bases were loaded with no one out and the middle of the Padres lineup at the plate.
Manny Machado could not keep up with a full-count comeback sinker and Jackson Merrill went down on three straight sweepers. It all set up the perfect opportunity for revenge with Nick Castellanos stepping into the box with the bases loaded and no one out.
Luzardo got ahead 0-2 quickly with a backdoor sweeper for a called strike and a swinging one on a down and away changeup. They tried to get Castellanos to chase on three straight pitches outside the zone but he laid them off. With a full count, Luzardo perfectly painted an inside fastball and Castellanos grounded out to shortstop.
The Padres once again got the first two runners on in the third with a Tatis single and an Andujar walk. Bogaerts hit a soft grounder to Bohm who got a forceout at second base. Machado stepped up again but rolled a first pitch fastball over to shortstop for an inning ending double play.
In the fifth, Luzardo once again had to work out of trouble. Rodolfo Durán got hit in the foot with a backfoot sweeper and then Tatis worked a walk. Just like the other innings, the Padres could not muster more to generate a run. Andujar hit a popup and Bogaerts hit a flyball to left field.
The Phillies did not record their second hit off Griffin Canning until the seventh inning when Kyle Schwarber singled to right field to reach base for a third time. Rookie manager Craig Stammen decided to leave Canning in to face Bryce Harper, who worked a five pitch walk.
Stammen kept him in for Bohm and it paid off with a groundball double play that sent Schwarber to third but with two outs.
And again, Stammen elected to leave Canning in for Brandon Marsh and the worst possible outcome occurred, a two-run home run to give the Phillies a three run lead in the late innings.
The Phillies stacked the final three innings with three of their handpicked reliable right handers to close the game out. Orion Kerkering got the seventh against the bottom of the Padres order and struck out a pair with a dotted fastball on the outside corner to Ty France and a nasty down and away sweeper to Ramón Laureano.
In the eighth, Brad Keller walked Tatis to leadoff the inning but got the next three outs including a Machado strikeout to end it.
Jhoan Duran entered the ninth with no lightshow or handpicked music because they’re on the road but had a special milestone on the line. He picked up his 100th big league save with Laureano swung through a full-count splinker.
The Phillies are back to the .500 mark with Aaron Nola getting the ball later tonight against Padres breakout starter Randy Vásquez. It’s probably as good a matchup for Nola as he will have this season.
(Yes, well aware how late this recap is. I’m very sorry, Ethan.)
