Myers, Machado power Padres to wild win over Giants
Credit: MLB
The struggling San Diego Padres offense finally came up with some big hits to overcome a shaky start from Sean Manaea and the struggles of Luis Garcia. Jake Cronenworth hit a two-run home run, Wil Myers hit a two-run double, and Manny Machado added three hits to push the Padres to a win over the San Francisco Giants.
After retiring the first three Giants in order, Manaea got himself into trouble in the second inning. Wilmer Flores got the frame started with a single before Thairo Estrada singled after Tommy La Stella fouled out to give the Giants two players on base with one out. After a nine-pitch battle with Brandon Crawford, Manaea walked him, loading the bases. Manaea jumped ahead, as the first two pitches resulted in strikes, but Crawford battled. Curt Casali’s sacrifice fly brought the game’s first run home, but Manaea limited the damage with a strikeout of Luis Gonzalez.
The Padres offense answered back in the third, with a little help from Lady Luck. Ha-Seong Kim got the inning started with a single that went through the legs of Giants starter Jakob Junis before hitting the second base bag, bouncing it away from a well-positioned Estrada. Kim’s single positioned the Padres to score off of Jorge Alfaro’s double that just bounced inside the left field line. Cronenworth, who has been struggling in 2022, lined a first-pitch slider at 104 miles per hour just over the tall right field wall for a two-run home run. Cronenworth and Alfaro each swung at first-pitch sliders, as the Padres were very aggressive against Junis. Machado hit a ground-ball single before moving to third on Eric Hosmer’s groundout. With Machado attempting to steal second on the pitch, as well as the Giants’ shift, third base was open, and Machado wisely took advantage. He then scored on a wild pitch, giving the Padres a three-run lead.
That lead did not last long, as Darin Ruf hit a two-run home run, bringing home Austin Slater in the bottom of the third. Manaea somewhat composed himself, as he did not allow a hit to the next nine batters he faced, but Ruf hit his second home run of the night to end the strong streak for the left-hander. It was Manaea’s sixth consecutive start allowing at least three runs, as he’s struggled after a strong start to his season. He did finish strongly, retiring the last five batters he faced.
The Padres were aggressive on the base paths, as Machado, Kim, and Jurickson Profar all stole a base, giving San Diego a pair of chances with runners in scoring position that they did not take advantage of. They were also aggressive at the plate, as they saw ten or less pitches in four of the nine innings. However, after the four-run third inning, the Padres did not score in the next four innings.
The Padres offense finally came up huge in the eighth, as they plated two runs against Tyler Rogers, Taylor’s brother. Cronenworth reached base after he was hit, but Rogers sat down Machado and Hosmer. Profar reached on an infield single before Wil Myers came to the plate for a crucial at-bat. On a 2-2 count, Myers lofted a deep fly ball off the right field wall, resulting in a tiebreaking two-run double. Myers has had a strong road trip, hitting .346 (9-for-26), with a home run, so far on the seven-game vacation. Myers said, “He {Rogers} made a good pitch. I was just able to kind of put a good swing on it. I liked where I was at in the approach.” After a tough start to the season, Myers looks like his 2020 self for the first time in a while.
After Manaea finished his night, Bob Melvin, who made his return after missing six games due to prostate surgery, went to Nabil Crismatt. Due to strong pitching and the “piggybacks” of starters on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Padres bullpen threw just 3.1 innings in three games against Philadelphia. Crismatt came into the game shakily, surrendering a deep flyout and a double, but settled down to retire the side. He came out again for the eighth inning, retiring the first two batters he faced before a two-out double forced him from the game for the newly activated Tim Hill. Hill induced a flyout from Crawford to send the game to the ninth.
With Taylor Rogers unavailable after working four outs on Wednesday, Melvin turned to Luis Garcia. Garcia started well, striking out the first two batters he faced before allowing an infield single to Yastrzemski. However, Ruf, having already homered twice, came to the plate as the tying run before being walked to bring the winning run to the dish. Joc Pederson pinch hit, and he walked on a 3-2 count, putting the tying run in scoring position. Wilmer Flores lofted a single over the outstretched glove of Kim, scoring the tying run to send the game to the tenth.
In the 10th inning, the Padres offense started with a spark, as Machado’s third hit of the day was a go-ahead double, scoring Cronenworth. Machado came around to score on Profar’s single, giving the Padres a two-run lead. Robert Suarez was sent into the game to secure the win. Suarez did allow one run to score, but he came up big when he needed to, picking up his first major league save in the process.
[wpedon id=”49075″ align=”right”]
It was a rowdy game, as Giants fans threw things at Profar multiple times, causing the game to be paused. It did not seem to phase Profar, as he had three hits.
San Diego was shaky at times, but they got big production from their offense when they needed it most. The Padres have won four out of five, secured a winning road trip, and are a game away from three consecutive series victories.
Sam is a Senior in High School. He has been writing for three years, and started at EVT in June of 2021. He’s headed to Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications in the fall of 2023.