Bowen, Taylor provide spark as Padres win with 'old-school baseball'

SAN DIEGO -- Jase Bowen and Samad Taylor were called up last week to provide a spark -- and that’s exactly what they’ve been for a Padres offense that has struggled lately.

San Diego rode the bottom of its lineup to a 6-2 victory over Cincinnati on Monday night -- including three consecutive bunts during a wild go-ahead rally in the seventh inning.

Here’s some instant reaction from Petco Park:

The small-ballin’ Padres

The last few games have brought a notable philosophical shift for this offense. Or, put another way: The Padres certainly weren’t doing this with Nick Castellanos and Ramón Laureano.

But when Castellanos was designated for assignment and Laureano landed on the IL, they promoted Taylor and Bowen with visions of getting more athletic and perhaps being able to create some havoc.

That’s a good word for what happened in the seventh inning on Monday night. Havoc.

“They basically won us the game tonight, just being able to execute what we’re asking them to do: Steal some bases, put some bunts down, take some good ABs,” manager Craig Stammen said.

After Xander Bogaerts and Gavin Sheets opened the frame with consecutive doubles, the Padres laid down three successive bunts. Bowen beat out an infield hit. So did Taylor, plating the go-ahead run. Freddy Fermin followed by forcing an error.

“It’s the best,” said Bowen. “It’s old-school baseball. That’s what we’re here to do, to just kind of create chaos and have fun with it.”

An inning later, that trio at the bottom of the lineup keyed another rally, with Bowen, Taylor and Fermin notching three consecutive singles. Both Bowen and Taylor stole a base during the rally, and the Padres added three tack-on runs.

Not that they necessarily needed those runs, with Mason Miller as dominant as ever. But the offensive surge came with a measure of energy that had been lacking, as the Padres dropped 11 of their previous 13.

“Yeah, we’re scuffling,” Taylor said. “But in the blink of an eye, it’s going to turn around.”

Perhaps Monday was the start of that.

Taylor and Bowen in the big picture

Taylor got his first start for the Padres on Sunday, and his brilliant all-around performance earned him another one on Monday night. He was excellent again, making a pair of outstanding defensive plays, in addition to his two hits. In the second inning, Taylor cut down a run with an excellent, two-hop throw to the plate. In the sixth, he saved another run, crashing into the wall to rob Matt McClain of extra bases.

Bowen, meanwhile, went 2-for-3 with a walk and has also been solid defensively since his callup. He clearly plays with an edge, too. (Have you ever seen someone so fired up for executing the perfect bunt, like Bowen did in the seventh?)

Neither Bowen nor Taylor is going to be the Padres’ long-term answer in left field. That’s true even with Laureano likely out for the season. Sheets should get a handful of starts there. Bryce Johnson is an option. And come trade season, a corner bat will be the Padres’ top priority.

But the high-energy duo can absolutely assert themselves as useful bench options. Taylor is already doing so, having reached base in five of his 10 trips to the plate.

“We both went down to [Triple-A] El Paso and worked hard,” Taylor said. “That’s my partner next to me. We did it in El Paso, and we’re going to do it here.”

Fermin does it again

The state of the Padres’ catching situation felt dire just three days ago. Fermin’s OPS had slipped below .400. The Padres were getting almost no offensive production whatsoever from their backstops.

But Fermin hit the decisive home run on Saturday night, went deep again on Sunday, then got the Padres on the board with a homer in a third straight game -- the first Padre to go deep in three straight games this season.

“Just a little confidence,” said Stammen. “We know these first couple months are not who he is offensively. He’s been crushing it on defense.”

Fermin is not going to homer every night. But at the very least, he needs to be more of a threat at the plate than he’d been. The past few games have been a major step in the right direction.

With Luis Campusano on his way back and Fermin starting to hit, it feels like the Padres can allocate their resources elsewhere during trade season. They might have enough at catcher, after all.

“Couldn’t be happier for Freddy,” Stammen said. “We’re lucky he’s a Padre.”