The San Diego Padres benefitted from two errors on one play in the bottom of the fifth inning. The play resulted in two runners crossing the plate to give the Padres a 4-2 lead over the San Fransisco Giants. By the end of the fifth, San Diego had scored six runs and enjoyed an 8-2 lead, which allowed the Padres to earn an 8-4 win at Petco Park, Thursday.
San Diego opened the bottom of the fifth inning with a single and a walk by Ramon Laureano and Jake Cronenworth. Freddy Fermin bunted toward third
base and San Francisco third baseman Casey Schmitt fielded the ball and threw wide of first base. The ball went up the right field line and right fielder Luis Matos could not field the ball cleanly. Laureano and Cronenworth scored to put the Padres ahead, 4-2.
Fernando Tatis Jr. dropped down a bunt of his own and reached first, pushing Fermin to second base. Luis Arraez recorded the third consecutive bunt and was thrown out, but pushed Fermin to third and Tatis Jr. to second. With two runners in scoring position, Manny Machado hit a one-out double to left-center field that scored Fermin and Tatis Jr. to make the score, 6-2.
Giants starting pitcher Justin Verlander was removed from the game and was replaced by Matt Gage. Ryan O’Hearn was the first batter to face Gage and was hit on the hand by a pitch to put runners at first and second. Machado stole third and scored when Xander Bogaerts hit an RBI-single to left to put the Padres ahead, 7-2. O’Hearn was able to advance to third on the play.
San Diego added the final run of the inning when Laureano, hitting for the second time in the frame, recorded a two-out RBI-single through the right side of the infield to put the Padres on top, 8-2.
Dylan Cease started the game for San Diego and suffered from defensive miscues in the top of the third inning that saw San Francisco jump out to a 2-0 lead. Cease looked to work deeper into the game after the Padres went up 8-2 in the fifth, but he allowed back-to-back home runs to Rafael Devers and Willy Adames to start the top of the sixth. The rough start to the sixth knocked him out of the game.
Cease finished five-plus innings and allowed four runs on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. The San Diego bullpen worked the remaining innings of the game without allowing a run and helped the Padres get a 3-1 series win.
San Diego hosts the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday at 6:40 p.m. The Padres enter the weekend series one game back of the NL West Division lead.
