After dropping their series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Diego Padres put one back in the win column quickly. The club rode a resurgent start from Germán Márquez alongside a Jake Cronenworth three-run homer to a convincing victory over Arizona.
It felt like maybe the Padres’ recent tough streak would continue after Márquez loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning. That was due to Cronenworth making an error at first base, though Márquez would have been in trouble either
way. With the bases loaded, he walked Max Kepler for the first run of the game before Sung-Mun Song made an unassisted double play to get out of it.
Cronenworth made it up immediately with a deep drive to right field off of starter Zac Gallen, putting the Padres ahead. The score wouldn’t change on either side for the remaining eight innings. It was a fantastic showing for the Friars after a tough shutout on Monday night. They’ll need to keep it up in the hopes of winning the series over the Dbacks.
Taking the mound
Jose Cabrera (AZ) v. Michael King (SD)
With the Dbacks dealing with injuries to their rotation, Cabrera was called up a few weeks ago to bolster the pitching staff. The righty has pitched just three games for Arizona and had looked decent. He debuted with five shutout innings against the Minnesota Twins but has since regressed, surrendering seven runs in his last 8 1/3 frames.
Cabrera is a pitcher the Padres should be all over tonight. His two primary pitches are a cutter and four-seamer, both of which feature below-average velocity (89.6 and 93.4 mph on average). Even though the Friars haven’t faced Cabrera before, he shouldn’t be difficult for them to solve.
There’s no other way to say it, King needs to rebound soon. It’s the right-hander’s last start before the All-Star break. It would certainly be much better to head into the break with a good outing in the minds of the Friar Faithful.
That said, King has been better lately than it’s seemed. In his last three starts, the righty has given up six runs across 17 1/3 innings, good for a 3.12 ERA. That’s considerably better than the 4.69 mark across his last seven outings (and a slight improvement from the 3.52 ERA King’s posted this season). If he can keep that recent uptick going by quieting Arizona’s bats, it could give San Diego some momentum.
Batter up!
After scoring four runs on three hits in the first inning, the Padres’ lineup went somewhat dormant. They scraped together three more hits but didn’t put any more runs on the board. They didn’t need it last night, but San Diego didn’t take advantage of as many mistakes from Arizona’s pitching staff as they could have. They’ll be more margin for error tonight against the rookie Cabrera, but only if King can rebound from his recent difficulties.
- Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Gavin Sheets, 1B
- Jake Cronenworth, 2B
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Miguel Andujar, DH
- Luis Campusano, C
- Samad Taylor, LF
The new-look lineup paid off immediately despite looking quite interesting. After Cronenworth’s move to second in the order, the keystone position player shifted to the cold corner for the day. That went just about as well as could be expected, with Cronenworth making an error on the first ball hit his way. He mellowed out after that, but Sheets or Ty France should be back at first base tonight.
Relief corps
After Yuki Matsui struggled to record a second out in the sixth inning, newcomer Jhony Brito came in with runners on first and second base and just one out. He immediately induced a double play to end the trouble before pitching a perfect seventh inning. Brito has long been viewed as a hopeful addition for San Diego who has been derailed by injuries. Hopefully, he can finally put it all together.
Behind Brito, Bradley Rodriguez and Mason Miller pitched a perfect eighth and ninth. Miller nailed down his 23rd save of the year, putting him atop the National League in the statistic (third overall). Brito’s outing allows the Padres options tonight, with Kyle Hart, Ron Marinaccio, Adrian Morejon and Wandy Peralta available. Miller could also pitch if the Friars enter the ninth in a save situation.
