Padres Week in Review: A Week That Was Almost Perfect

San Diego Padres Weekly Snapshot

Record last week: 5-1 (53-53)

Runs scored last week: 30

Runs allowed last week: 21 (season run differential: minus-12)

Scores

• Monday: Off
• Game 107 (Tuesday): Padres 8, Rockies 7
• Game 108 (Wednesday): Padres 3, Rockies 1
• Game 109 (Thursday): Giants 4, Padres 1
• Game 110 (Friday): Padres 7, Giants 0
• Game 111 (Saturday): Padres 5, Giants 4
• Game 112 (Sunday): Padres 5, Giants 4

Week in Review and Highlights

Rockies series

Game 1: This brief two-game series against the Colorado Rockies is one that could make or break the good work the Padres did over the weekend in sweeping the Miami Marlins on the road. Back at home and fresh off a day off, And this game played out exactly as you might imagine. The Padres, a team that has been unable to find any real positive momentum since April, and the Rockies, a team playing better but trying to avoid yet another 100-loss season, engaged in a sloppily played yet entertaining tilt. In a game they had to have—at this point, they are all like that, aren't they?—the Padres used two late blows to upend the Rockies 8-7. Xander Bogaerts delivered the winning shot, a bases-loaded, no-outs sacrifice fly to center field that scored Jackson Merrill. That came an inning after Manny Machado tied things at 7-7 with an opposite-field single to right-center that was bobbled by right fielder Jake McCarthy, allowing Jake Cronenworth to score from first base.

While there were plenty of talking points produced by this game—Fernando Tatis Jr.'s first career five-hit game, Michael King's six stalwart innings, the Friars producing 16 hits, Craig Stammen's fourth ejection (Ryan Goins getting tossed, too), the Rockies' four errors—the Padres are in one mode and one mode only for probably the rest of the season: must-win. No matter the opponent, that one win can make a difference in playing in the postseason and watching it from Cancun. And the Padres continue to show enough fight to remain in the race. This win put the Padres above .500 at 54-53 for the first time since they were 43-42 on July 1. They are 1½ games out of the last NL wild-card spot, with only three teams to climb over.

The Padres could have taken the drama out of this game by scoring more than once in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings or more than twice in the seventh. But they did just enough to not let the Rockies get too far out in front. Machado and Merrill each had three hits and Luis Campusano had a pair. In addition to his five hits, Tatis drove in two.

Game 2: Mission accomplished. With a Rockies team that can be a bit of a thorn—the Padres are now 8-1 vs. Colorado, but with two walk-offs and four more wins decided by one or two runs—a 3-1 win is more of an exhale than a major accomplishment. But as mentioned above, a win is a win is a win. That is the only thing that matters. Unlike Tuesday's game, Wednesday's matinee was much more crisp. The Padres rode the chaos pitching plan with left-hander Kyle Hart and right-hander Griffin Canning combining for 5⅔ innings shutout innings with a walk and seven strikeouts. The buy-in for this plan instead of trying to force more innings out of certain guys certainly seems to be working, at least to this point.

The Friars scored all three of their runs in one inning, the bottom of the fourth, all without an extra-base hit. Cronenworth and Machado singled and Ty France was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Merrill singled home Cronenworth, Luis Rengifo hit an RBI groundout and Gavin Sheets hit a sacrifice fly. That quick, it was 3-0. The 2⅔ innings by Hart wasn't that surprising, but the three clean innings from Canning certainly was. In his first spin through the chaos plan, Canning allowed just one hit and for the first time this season (16 games) didn't allow a run. This after getting roughed up for nine runs over 6⅓ innings in his last two outings. From there, it was a typical bullpen run of left-hander Wandy Peralta, right-handers Bradgley Rodriguez, Jeremiah Estrada and closer Mason Miller. Estrada was just activated from the 15-day injured list due to right knee inflammation. Miller's perfect ninth included a pair of strikeouts en route to his 28th save in as many attempts.

Giants series

Game 1: OK, so the Padres weren't going to win their final 58 games. We all know that. Some losses are a little more palatable than others and while a loss to the San Francisco Giants isn't ideal, they were shut down by 2021 AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray, who is auditioning to join a contending team before Monday's trade deadline. So Thursday's 4-1 Padres loss to the Giants is a little easier to swallow in the grand scheme of things, especially when you consider that every other team battling for the last two NL wild-card spots that were in action lost. Ray limited the Friars to four hits and a run over six innings, walking one and striking out six. Unfortunately, the Padres were unable to dent the Giants' bullpen either.

The Padres' only run off Ray came in the bottom of the second as France was hit by a pitch, Merrill singled and Campusano hit into a double play, putting France on third. Bogaerts singled to center to trim the Padres' deficit to 3-1. But the Padres would have half of the six hits they would notch in the game at that point. The chaos pitching plan didn't backfire, but perhaps hit its first glitch. Left-hander JP Sears started and went 3⅔ innings, allowing three runs in the first two. It could have been worse as Tatis made a nice homer-saving catch on a drive by Rafael Devers to right-center. But Sears loaded the bases (two singles, hit by pitch) with one out in the fourth, then struck out the next batter before Peralta came in to get the final out, which he did thanks to Campusano challenging a pitch and turning a run-scoring walk into an inning-ending strikeout of Bryce Eldridge. Peralta got another out in the fifth but left two runners on for right-hander Randy Vasquez to clean up. He did, then pitched the final four innings. So the Friars got 8⅓ out of Sears and Vasquez, so that was certainly a positive development while also saving true relievers.

Game 2: Adding more chaos to the chaos pitching plan worked wonderfully for the Padres. As a result, the Friars did what they should have done in this particular pitching matchup, dispatching the Giants 7-0. This twist on the chaos involved two relievers setting up a starter. It began with Rodriguez striking out two in a perfect first inning, then left-hander Yuki Matsui came on for a career-high three innings and 49 pitches in facing just one hitter over the minimum. Matsui turned things over to right-hander German Marquez, who went a traditional starter's five innings and only allowed one hit to complete the two-hit shutout. As chaos begets chaos, Matsui, the reliever, was credited with the win, while Marquez, a starter, picked up a five-inning save, the first save of his 11-year career.

The offense was a little more straight-forward, although there was a surprising contribution. The Padres got a pair in the first inning off left-hander Carson Whisenhunt, who will not be mistaken for Ray, his rotation mate who stifled the Friars the night before. Tatis opened with a double, Rengifo singled him to third and Machado hit a liner of a sacrifice fly as Tatis sped home for a 1-0 lead. France walked and, one out later, Campusano singled home Rengifo. A Bogaerts double-play ball brought in a third-inning run, then the surprise struck. Jase Bowen, who has shown well defensively as the extra outfielder but hasn't had much of an impact with the bat, went deep for the first time since getting called up June 2 to make his MLB debut, a no-doubt solo shot into the Western Metal Supply Building in the fourth inning. He hit 13 homers in 49 games at Triple-A El Paso and got his first in MLB in his 40th game. He also had just his third multihit game as his season slash line languishes at .167/.206/.250. France then put this one out of reach with three more RBIs, two on a fourth-inning single and another on a sixth-inning sacrifice fly.

Game 3: The one trait that hasn't left the Padres since Opening Day is their ability to have some late-inning magic. One of the big differences since then, though, is they are getting a lead early and not having to make big comebacks. On a day in which the impeccable Miller blew his first save of the season, the Padres rescued their closer by walking off the Giants 5-4 on Cronenworth's two-out, two-strike single to center that scored Bogaerts from third. Their seventh win in eight games kept the Padres one game out of an NL wild-card berth. Again, it was a group effort. While Cronenworth got the postgame Gatorade bath, Bogaerts had doubled leading off the ninth and Freddy Fermin bunted him to third. That wasn't Fermin's only contribution. He hit a two-run homer in the fourth to put the Padres up 4-3, his first since June 8, two stays in the injured list ago. Fermin also had an RBI single in the sixth to make it 5-3. Bogaerts had two hits and scored twice, France had three hits and scored once, Merrill had a two-run double in the first and Cronenworth had two hits.

That was just the offense. Buehler wasn't as solid as he has been, only going 4⅓, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out just one. But Peralta and Morejon each didn't allow a run while getting four outs. Estrada loaded the bases before he got a strikeout. Miller was summoned for a five-out save, but for the first time this season, he blew the assignment. After getting a strikeout, Miller was tagged by Osleivis Basabe for his first double of the season that tied the game 5-5, just the second extra-base hit the right-hander has allowed in the year he has been with the Padres, both coming in the last two weeks. Miller returned to the dugout after the inning and threw a cooler, which resulted in a minor cut on the middle finger of his throwing hand. Still, he returned for the ninth and struck out two of the four batters he faced.

Bogaerts doubled down the left-field line leading off the ninth and Cronenworth's line drive kept the good vibes going at a time the Padres need them to remain high. Some change, maybe something big, could be coming before Monday's 3 p.m. PT trade deadline arrives. 

Game 4: A 5-1 week is nothing to sneeze at, but with where the Padres were, what is at stake and the way they are playing, that is exactly what you should have expected while facing the Rockies and the Giants, two of the three worst teams in the NL. This round of pitching chaos starred Hart and Merrill hit a two-run homer as part of a four-run second inning that carried the Padres to a 5-4 victory. After winning three of the four games in the series and eight of their last nine, the Friars are now one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies for the last two NL wild-card spots. Who do the Padres play next? The D'backs for four games in Phoenix.

Hart set the tone with three shutout innings, surrendering just one hit and no walks with three strikeouts. Sears experienced a hiccup by giving up a pair of runs in the fourth, then Canning came on, allowing a solo homer in two innings. After a scoreless inning from Estrada, Rodriguez ran into trouble in the eighth, which required Morejon, filling in as the closer after Miller's extended outing Saturday, to come on in the eighth to get four outs for his second save of the season in what could be his final appearance as Monday's trade deadline looms. The Padres used six pitchers in their chaos plan.

The offense produced one big inning, which was enough. France (2-for-4, two runs) had a leadoff single, then Merrill hit an 0-2 pitch for a 422-foot homer and a 2-0 lead. After an out, Bogaerts and Sheets walked, then a strikeout and Rengifo walked to load the bases. Cronenworth then delivered a two-run single to make it 4-0. The Giants got two in the fourth and one in the fifth to pull within 4-3, with Campusano singling home France. The deadline awaits, then the push against the D'backs begins.

Marvelous Mason Miller

Some of the amazing stats for the Padres' closer:

• Season stats: 4-1, 0.76 ERA, 45 games, 28 saves (29 chances), 47⅓ IP, 22 H, 6 H, 4 ER, 16 BB, 88 K, .137 opponent average
• Blew first save of the season trying to get a five-out save vs. the Giants on Saturday.
• Struck out three batters in an inning for the third time in six outings Tuesday vs. the Rockies. It was the 13th time this season he has done that, more than doubling the next-highest total by a reliever (six). Tuesday marked the seventh time he struck out all three batters he faced in an inning.

Random Stats

• Fernando Tatis Jr.'s five-hit game Monday was the 10th five-hit game in MLB this season.
• Xander Bogaerts has eight career walk-offs, with three coming against the Rockies, including two this year.
• The Padres have won their last seven series against the Rockies.
• Manny Machado played in his 2,000th career game in Thursday's series opener vs. the Giants. He is one of seven active players to be in that many games and one of 255 players all time to reach that mark.
• Xander Bogaerts' second-inning run-scoring single Thursday was his 1,900th career hit.
• The Padres had their 45th sellout in 57 games at Petco Park this year.

Transactions

Note: The Padres officially announced the signings of 20 draft choices and nine minor-league free agents as previously reported by Padres Mission. Check out the transactions log here:

• Wednesday: Activated RHP Jeremiah Estrada (right knee inflammation) from the 15-day injured list.
• Wednesday: Designated RHP Matt Waldron for assignment.

Website Highlights

• Campusano has forced Padres' hand behind the plate — Randy Holt
• Rengifo is proving to be exactly what Padres need — Randy Holt

Looking Ahead

(Projected starter or bulk reliever)

• Monday: Padres (Michael King) at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m.
• Tuesday: Padres (Randy Vasquez) at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m.
• Wednesday: Padres (German Marquez) at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m.
• Thursday: Padres (Walker Buehler) at Diamondbacks, 6:40 p.m.
• Friday: Astros (Kyle Hart) at Padres, 6:40 p.m.
• Saturday: Astros (Michael King) at Padres, 4:15 p.m.
• Sunday: Astros (Randy Vasquez) at Padres, 5:20 p.m.

View our top trade candidates list, up to nearly 70 names and updated regularly!