Padres comeback to win Knehr’s debut 4-2
.Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
After trailing 2-0 early, the San Diego Padres backed up Reiss Knehr in his major league debut with a 4-2 win over the Colorado Rockies.
The Padres placed Blake Snell, whose spot in the rotation turned on Friday, on the injured list along with Drew Pomeranz with gastroenteritis that stemmed back to Snell missing his start in Cincinnati just over a week ago. With limited options with major league experience due to other injuries, the Padres called up Knehr to make his professional debut from Double-A San Antonio.
Welcome to The Show, Reiss Knehr! pic.twitter.com/RuKbyFCqMw
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 10, 2021
Players like Knehr are long shots to make it to the big leagues, but he beat the odds. Knehr was the Padres’ 20th round selection in the 2018 MLB draft out of Fordham University. His fastball showed a lot of life with, at times, sporadic command to go along with some sliders, cutters, and changeups.
In 3 2/3 innings, Knehr threw 76 pitches and allowed three hits while walking four. Two of his four hits allowed came on catchable balls that Trent Grisham and Tommy Pham both failed to reel in. Had Grisham and Pham made those catches, Knehr would have allowed zero runs and might have pitched into the fifth inning.
“Coming up from Double-A and being able to give us the performance that he gave us could have went south on him in the second. He was able to take a deep breath and get back in the zone,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said.
Miguel Diaz followed Knehr and absolutely stifled the Rockies. Diaz picked up the win while recording eight outs and striking out three batters on 26 pitches, 23 of which were strikes.
“The highlight of the night for me tonight was Diaz,” Tingler said. “That was the best I’ve seen him pound the zone.”
It took four innings for the offense to get it going against Kyle Freeland. All-star Jake Cronenworth continued his strong first-half with a leadoff double and then scored on a great read when Trent Grisham blooped in a single.
Wil Myers has hit so many doubles this week that these highlights are going to get flagged for spam.#HungryForMore pic.twitter.com/4gCaQqgGwl
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 10, 2021
The offense then chased Freeland in the sixth inning after Cronenworth led off with a single and Manny Machado followed with a double. After Cronenworth scored, Will Myers drove in Machado to take the lead with a two-out double. Machado added an insurance run in the seventh inning that the Padres ultimately did not need.
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After winning the series opener, the Padres will eye the series victory Saturday against Colorado with Joe Musgrove on the mound. German Marquez, who will be representing the Rockies in Colorado at the All-Star Game, will get the ball Saturday against Musgrove. The first pitch will be at 7:10 PT, which is late for a Saturday game at Petco Park.
Dominic is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Journalism. He also is the producer and co-host of the “Padres EVT Podcast.”
Grisham the hotdog. For some inexplicable reason he thinks he has to hotdog every ball that comes his way. Of this team had any kind of leadership then this would have stopped long ago.