The San Diego Padres looked close to a comeback in the seventh inning against Washington Nationals starter Zack Littell. Having yet to score a run, Xander Bogaerts walked and Jackson Merrill singled to put the first two runners on base.
On the first pitch he saw, Ty France laced an RBI-double down the left field line to score Bogaerts and put runners on second and third with no outs. Littell was ousted from the game for reliever Orlando Ribalta with Nick Castellanos on deck. Castellanos flew out to center
to record the sacrifice fly to put the Padres within a run with only one out.
With Sung-Mun Song up, another sac fly would tie the game. Instead, Song walked, putting runners on the corners and setting up the double play. The double play came, though it was unorthodox.
Miguel Andujar pinch-hit for Freddy Fermin and struck out as Song ran for second. Even though he beat the tag, Song slid past the bag and came off it, ending the scoring opportunity. The same thing would happen again in the ninth inning to end the game, losing the Friars the series.
They’ll face the Philadelphia Phillies today hoping to make up some ground after being swept by the club in last week’s contest.
Taking the mound
Aaron Nola (PHI) v. Randy Vásquez (SD)
Nola has struggled this season, but has recently started to turn things around. His last start came against the Friars who he limited to two runs over six innings. He had some help from his defense, but Nola held his own against the San Diego lineup.
Despite losing the series to Washington, the Padres’ offense looked much healthier in this series than it did against Philly last week. Nola may have more trouble against the Friars this time around.
Vásquez’s last start was that same game against Philly that Nola pitched. He was outdueled early, giving up home runs to the third batter faced in each of the first three innings. It would have been four innings if not for Merrill’s robbery of Edmundo Sosa in center field.
The righty has come into his own this season, pitching the best that he ever has. Vásquez has shown some signs of wear lately but still owns a respectable 3.28 ERA despite his recent struggles.
Batter up!
It’s hard to understate just how different this offense looks compared to last week. Fernando Tatis Jr. finally hit a home run and is batting .448 in his last seven games. Merrill has had a similar trajectory, going 4-for-11 with two walks and a homer in the series against the Nats.
- Fernando Tatis Jr., 2B
- Gavin Sheets, LF
- Miguel Andujar, DH
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Ty France, 1B
- Ramón Laureano, RF
- Rodolfo Durán, C
Bogaerts and Machado have been productive as well, though not on the same scale. They went a combined 5-for-22 with three walks and five RBI over the weekend. The .227 combined batting average doesn’t look great, but the situational hitting has been much better.
Relief corps
With the off day on Monday, the bullpen will be plenty rested. That’s good because starter Griffin Canning only went five innings, meaning Yuki Matsui, Jeremiah Estrada, Adrian Morejon and Jason Adam combined for the final three frames.
They’ll all be available for the series opener today, but the first out of the ‘pen will likely be Ron Marinaccio, Wandy Peralta and Bradgley Rodriguez with Mason Miller available to close.
