Yesterday’s game saw this San Diego Padres club do something it hasn’t shown yet this season: fight.
After having a 2-1 lead over the Boston Red Sox for most of the game (in large part due to Randy Vásquez’s sheer force of will), Adrian Morejon came in to pitch the eighth inning. He had hoped to put his struggles from Wednesday’s outing behind him (he did not).
His command struggled, and he gave up back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. He got a big strikeout against Trevor Story before
getting Andruw Monasterio to ground out.
Unfortunately, what would have been an inning-ending double play got botched on a low throw from Morejon to Jake Cronenworth. Luckily, the bleeding stopped there, with Morejon able to strike out Willson Contreras to get into the ninth.
But then there’s a problem. San Diego still had to face one of the most dominant relievers in baseball in Aroldis Chapman.
Chapman got two quick outs before Fernando Tatis Jr. redeemed his day (four strikeouts) with a double to center field. That set the table for the red-hot bat of Ramón Laureano to bring him around on a single to left.
That gave the Friars a one-run lead. It was all they would need.
Mason Miller came in to slam the door and did so exceptionally — flirting with an immaculate inning before throwing the first pitch to his third batter for ball one. He still struck out all three to cap off the win for San Diego.
Taking the mound
Ranger Suarez (BOS) v. Walker Buehler (SD)
Despite their incredibly different offseasons, Buehler and Suarez had incredibly similar debuts with their new clubs.
Suarez got off to a rough start after inking a five-year, $130 million deal with Boston this offseason. He was a quick pivot after the club failed to re-sign free agent Alex Bregman.
He figured to be a valuable No. 2 behind Garrett Crochet but started the season in the fourth slot of the rotation.
His performance against the Houston Astros Monday night didn’t help his case to be moved up.
Across only 4 1/3 innings in Boston’s 8-1 loss, he gave up four runs on seven hits.
But Suarez has historically dominated San Diego, holding the team to a .237/.284/.316 slash line. He could do the same as he looks to bounce back from a less-than-memorable debut.
Buehler similarly struggled, giving up three runs on five hits across four innings pitched.
After a dominant two innings, he gave up a home run to Harrison Bader and couldn’t find the zone after that. He got himself into hitter’s counts seven times across his final 12 batters.
But he was mostly solid. Three runs should not be insurmountable, but, thus far, it has been for this San Diego club.
With Buehler returning to Boston to face the club he spent most of 2025 with, maybe the Friars finally can turn up the offense.
Batter up!
With the Padres facing another lefty in Suarez after rookie Connelly Early yesterday, manager Craig Stammen will probably use the same experimental lineup that he went with.
That being said, Ty France will probably be traded out for Gavin Sheets at first base so the lineup may look more like this:
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Ramón Laureano, LF
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Miguel Andujar, DH
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Gavin Sheets, 1B
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
- Luis Campusano, C
It was a surprise to see Sheets out of the lineup after his fantastic performance on Wednesday’s game (2-3, 2 2Bs, RBI, BB) so he’ll likely get the start today.
Andujar hit exceptionally for the first time this season, going 3-for-5. Bryce Johnson took over for Merrill in center field but will defer to the starting center fielder in today’s game.
Despite his bat being quite cold to start the season, Machado took his walks yesterday. He walked in his first three plate appearances, showing discipline against the Red Sox starter.
Relief corps
After Vásquez’s second solid outing, the Friars only had to use three of their relievers. Unfortunately, due to the close game, all three were high-leverage options in Jeremiah Estrada, Morejon, and Miller.
That still leaves solid options with Kyle Hart, Ron Marinaccio, David Morgan, Wandy Peralta, and Bradgley Rodriguez. Of the five, Morgan is the highest leverage choice.
For the ninth, Miller could still come out to pitch in a save situation if the Padres feel it’s needed. But if it’s a rout by either team, he’ll stay in the ‘pen for the upcoming Pittsburgh Pirates series.
