Mason Miller faced off against Kevin McGonigle in the final plate appearance of the night between the San Diego Padres and the Detroit Tigers.
The Padres were looking to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Tigers thanks in large part to the breakout performance McGonigle who was playing the third MLB game of his career. The rookie got off to a blistering start with four hits in the series opener and he followed that with another hit in the second game of the series. There was debate on Friday night
about whether Miller, the Padres closer, should have been brought into the game in the top of the eighth inning with the bases loaded and the score tied 2-2. Instead, San Diego manager Craig Stammen went with Wandy Peralta for the left-on-left matchup and McGonigle delivered a two-run single on a 10-pitch at-bat that gave Detroit a 4-2 lead en route to the win.
Miller entered the game on Saturday with the Padres ahead 3-0 and quickly recorded the first two outs. He then walked Spencer Torkelson to set up the matchup with McGonigle who struck out on three pitches giving Miller his first save of the season. The win was also the first of the year for the Padres and the first of Stammen’s managerial career.
Long before Miller faced McGonigle, Randy Vasquez toed the rubber for San Diego. The right-hander delivered a dazzling performance, although it was not always the smoothest outing, with six innings of scoreless baseball. Vasquez finished the night with three walks and eight strikeouts, but the most impressive part of his outing was that he allowed just two hits.
With a performance like that the San Diego offense did not have to do much and three runs was more than enough to help the Padres avoid the sweep.
Fernando Tatis Jr. stepped to the plate in the bottom of the third inning with runners at first and second with two outs. Tatis lined a pitch on the outer half from Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty into right field, which scored Freddy Fermin from second base to give the Padres a 1-0 lead. Jake Cronenworth advanced to third base and San Diego had runners at the corners. Tatis would later steal second and the throw from Detroit catcher Jake Rogers could not be caught belt Gleyber Torres and went into shallow center field. The poor execution by the Tigers allowed Cronenworth to score to put the Padres up 2-0.
San Diego added its third run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Flaherty allowed three consecutive walks to load the bases and Jackson Merrill grounded into a force out, which allowed Cronenworth to score to give the Padres a 3-0 lead.
San Diego is off today, but returns to action against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on Monday at 6:40 p.m.
Padres News:
The Friar Faithful came into the season with higher expectations of the Padres than many of the national pundits as was revealed in the win projections that was part of the Padres Reacts Survey on Gaslamp Ball.
Matt Waldron and Jason Adam were both back on the mound in minor league appearances and both pitchers looked impressive in their performances.
The Padres still have prospects despite what the prospect rankings tell you. Dennis Lin of The Athletic provides four names of prospects to watch who could affect the big-league club on the major league level on the field or in a trade.
Baseball News:
Dominic Smith delivered a walk-off grand slam to help the Atlanta Braves get by the Kansas City Royals in Atlanta on Saturday.
Dylan Cease took the mound for the first time as a Toronto Blue Jays starter and recorded 12 strikeouts against the A’s.
The Seattle Mariners are getting hits, but to this point in the young season none of those have been singles.
