The other guys keep the Padres alive
In a night where the superstars went hitless, it was the other guys in the lineup that scored 6 unanswered runs and escaped with a win over the Diamondbacks.
It wasn’t exactly pretty, but the San Diego Padres turned a bad loss into a great win last night at Petco Park.
In the 5th inning, Joe Musgrove was pulled from the game with the Padres trailing the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 5-0. Considering how bad the San Diego offense has been lately, everyone assumed the worst.
Then, in a game where Juan Soto and Manny Machado failed to reach base in a combined 8 plate appearances, the Padres scored 6 unanswered runs and won the game 6-5. Here’s how it happened:
Jake Cronenworth opened things up with his first HR in about two weeks, this one with Josh Bell on base…
And, on Korean Heritage Night at the ballpark, Kim wasn’t going to be denied. He saw what Cronenworth did and, in the next at-bat, did the same…
Since home runs are fun, Josh Bell decided to get into the mix in the 7th inning, making it a one run game….
And that’s how things were entering the bottom of the 9th inning, Padres trailing by one run against Ian Kennedy.
Josh Bell was, again, in the middle of everything. He started the inning off with a walk and was replaced for pinch-runner Eguy Rosario.
Cronenworth and Kim came up next, although neither of them were able to advance the runner. Wil Myers hit a single to center, which was enough to get Cronenworth into scoring position.
With two outs and the game on the line, up walked José Azocar. Azocar pinch-hit for Trent Grisham in the bottom of the 8th to get a righty-lefty matchup and worked a walk in that at-bat. He eventually got to third on a Profar single, but was left stranded when Soto struck out and Machado popped up.
With no outs left to play with, Azocar worked his 2nd walk in two plate appearances. His OBP over his last seven games is a hilarious .625.
That brought Jorge Alfaro up to the plate, in his first game back since being recalled from El Paso (where he was taking some time to get healthy). With Cronenworth at third, Myers at second and Azocar at first, Alfaro had bases loaded…
I’m not sure if he said it, because they didn’t show it on the TV broadcast, but I’d be surprised if he didn’t. Either way, let me say it for him just in case…
Let’s fucking go, San Diego!
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