Padres win fifth straight, defeat Astros 4-3
Credit: Padres
Petco Park – San Diego, California
The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros 4-3 Friday night to win their fifth game in a row and snapped Houston’s 8-game winning streak. There was no grand slam, but Manny Machado led the way with two RBIs, and a total of seven Padres knocked a base hit.
San Diego improved to (16-12) just two games shy of the halfway point. The Astros fell to (15-11).
The starting pitching matchup was Padres’ Garrett Richards against Lance McCullers Jr.
The Astros started the game with George Springer doubling to left field, followed by back-to-back singles by Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa to get on the board 1-0. Richards got out of a tough bases-loaded jam but not until he threw over 30 pitches.
Manny Machado followed the next inning with an RBI single to plate Eric Hosmer from second to even the score 1-1.
In the second inning, Richards forced a bases-loaded jam once again and ran his pitch count to over 60 pitches. He struck out Correa and Josh Reddick to end the inning, but that would do it for the right-hander.
Reliever Javy Guerra seemed to have earned his keep a little longer as he replaced Richards and threw 2.1 innings with zero hits and three strikeouts.
The Padres struck once again in the bottom of the fourth inning as Jurickson Profar hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Jake Cronenworth. San Diego had the 2-1 advantage heading to the fifth.
After Matt Strahm pitched a clean fifth inning, Machado singled to left and scored Trent Grisham. The next at-bat Cronenworth doubled to deep right to plate Machado, and the Padres had a 4-1 lead.
Stamp the NL R.O.T.Y trophy and mail it to 100 Park Blvd!
Jake Cronenworth doubles off the wall and the @Padres lead is now 3!#FriarFaithful pic.twitter.com/5JUTANT21D
— FOX Sports Slam Diego (@FOXSportsSD) August 22, 2020
The Astros would plate two more runs late to close the gap to 4-3, but it wasn’t enough as the Padres escaped with a victory.
Early on, it seemed as if the Astros would break it open but credit to Richards for getting out of the tough jam.
Tomorrow’s matchup is Padres’ Zach Davies going up against Astros’ rookie Brandon Bielak.
The game starts at 6:10 p.m.
Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris is also an athlete and is huge fan of San Diego sports. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and contributes regularly about the Padres.
I want to like Profar but he has GOT to do more at the plate. I think he needs to bunt against that shift. He seems to swing like he’s a home run hitter. He’ll be more successful learning to get on base at a higher rate.