Paddack Strong in Debut, Bats Wake Up in Time for a Padres’ Win
Petco Park- San Diego, California
The long-awaited Major League debut of right-hander Chris Paddack, the 33rd-ranked prospect in all of baseball, finally arrived.
He battled back from Tommy John surgery and surged up the prospect boards last season, supplanting himself in the national prospect spotlight.
In front of 38,444 people on a Sunday afternoon, including 30 or so of Paddack’s family and friends, he finally reached the pinnacle level of professional baseball, and he didn’t disappoint.
Paddack had a perfect 1-2-3 first inning and then proceeded to earn his first three career strikeouts in the second, striking out the side in order, with Brandon Belt being his first ever victim. The game remained scoreless until the top of the fifth inning when Brandon Crawford singled with one out and then scored on a Pablo Sandoval double. That was the lone blemish on the day for the 23-year-old Texan.
A ? of an #MLB debut for #Padres' Chris Paddack:
5 IP
1 R
2 H
1 BB
7 KOnly 11 pitchers in @MLB history have gone ≥ 5 innings with ≤ 1 R, ≤ 1 BB, ≤ 2 H and ≥ 7 K in their big league debut — including #BlueJays' Trent Thornton earlier today.https://t.co/SjUDSIloUD pic.twitter.com/eUPXDOYLsb
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 31, 2019
Paddack would be pinch-hit for in the bottom of the fifth ending his day with five innings, two hits, one run, one walk, and seven strikeouts. The Padres would eventually get Paddack off of the hook for the loss when Franchy Cordero worked a walk and then advanced on a Sandoval error. Then Eric Hosmer came through in the clutch with an RBI single, scoring Cordero.
It became a bullpen game after that, with Adam Warren twirling two scoreless innings of relief with a walk and two strikeouts. The Friars took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. Austin Hedges led off with a single. After a Greg Garcia double, Eric Hosmer was intentionally walked to load the bases for Manny Machado.
And we have the lead! Machado drives in @Hunter_Renfroe to give the #Padres a 2-1 lead in the 7th! pic.twitter.com/nOzDHeoZG8
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) March 31, 2019
Machado hit a ground ball and hustled up the line to beat out the double play, scoring the run and giving the Padres a slim 2-1 lead and giving him his first RBI as a Padre. After a scoreless eighth inning from Craig Stammen, the Padres added on when Austin Hedges singled with runners at the corner, extending the lead to 3-1. Hedges went 2-for-3 on the day.
Wil Myers had two more hits, raising his average to .462 in these four games. Franmil Reyes had a double and a few balls that fell just short of a home run.
Kirby Yates came in to pitch the ninth inning and earned his third save in as many tries, clinching the series win for the Padres as the Padres won 3-1. It marks the first time since 2011 that the Padres have won an opening series and they won the opening home series for the first time since 2008. This Padres team truly feels different.
The Padres welcomed 158,767 to Petco Park in the Opening four games, an impressive number. This team is fun to watch, and the locals are showing up to see it.
The Padres now start a home series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday, with Matt Strahm making his 2019 debut against Merrill Kelly for Arizona, who will be making his Major League debut.
Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.
I can’t recall seeing a worse team than the Giants. Solarte is likely their best player! They have him batting second or third. It is not a good sign that the Padres struggled so much to win 3 out of 4.
You must be fun at parties. Because you know, they don’t have two future Hall of Famers in Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner on the team. Yeah, Solarte must be their best player.
Uh, yeah, they WERE better. And what if they still had Willie McCovey? Yeah, he WAS better as well. Or Will Clark? But, of course, that was in the past. Reality helps, even though it hurts, even at parties. You should try it!
Reality is your friend Nick.
I appreciate your recap and your dedication to the Pads. I started going to see them when they moved to Westgate park-great venue.