Padres' bats break out in much-needed way in wild win over Blue Jays
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SAN DIEGO -- The Padres beat the Blue Jays, 8-7, on Saturday night in a game that was equal parts thrilling and, well, ugly.
The two teams combined for a whopping 17 walks -- including 11 across the first two innings. Then, they traded mammoth home runs late. Ty France’s solo shot in the sixth proved decisive, after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had tied the game with a three-run blast in the top of the inning.
Here are some takeaways after a wild one at Petco Park:
A much-needed offensive outburst
It was a rough night for the Padres’ pitching staff. But their bats made up for it.
And we haven’t been able to say that very often this season, have we?
This Padres’ offense ranks toward the bottom of the Majors in most offensive categories. The first half hasn’t been anywhere near good enough. But they’re still capable of nights like this one. At least, they should be, considering the caliber of hitters on their roster.
“We’re going to need more of that throughout the year,” said manager Craig Stammen. “Our pitching, we’ve talked a lot about it, [has] the injuries and mixing and matching and [we’re] trying to figure it out.
“The offense -- we’ve got guys that are going to be here for a while, and they’ve hit for a long time in their career. For them to kind of carry the team a little bit is what we need. If we get them hitting like they did tonight, I feel good about our chances in the second half.”
The Padres fell behind by two in the second. They stormed back with two in the bottom of the inning and two more in the third. When the Blue Jays rallied to tie the game at 7 on Guerrero’s homer, the Padres punched right back with France’s blast in the bottom of the inning.
Most of the Padres’ early offense came from simply taking their walks. (Trey Yesavage issued seven of them.) But those count, too, and they managed to produce the big hits when they needed them.
Hitting the right notes
When the Padres signed Sung-Mun Song, they envisioned a night like this one.
Manny Machado’s toe is presumably still bothering him, three days after he fouled a pitch off of it. He needed a day off his feet, and Song gave it to him.
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His two-out two-run single gave the Padres a 6-4 lead in the third inning -- in a tough left-on-left matchup against Adam Macko, too. Then, Song flashed the leather on defense. Half an inning later, he laid out to rob George Springer of an RBI single, ending the Blue Jays’ threat.
Song is a lefty bat, and he can play just about anywhere in the infield. He’s proving to be an extremely useful bench piece, now that he’s starting to produce a bit more offensively.
“It’s hard to describe the value,” Stammen said. “Left side of our infield is a little older. They can wear down a little bit playing every single day. Him being able to play third, short, second … the gameplan is to keep these guys fresh for the end of the season so they can get hot and [we can] be playing our best baseball at the end.
“We’ve got to get there to begin with. But in the meantime, Song is providing some very good production allowing those guys to essentially not play the field.”
Rotation questions linger -- and perhaps some bullpen questions, too
For a couple of months, Walker Buehler was one of the most reliable arms in the San Diego rotation. Now, he’s just another Padres starter who’s struggling to work deep into games, putting an undue burden on the bullpen.
Buehler walked four and allowed a home run to Blue Jays No. 9 hitter Jonatan Clase. He needed 65 pitches to complete two innings, before his night was done. Three starts ago, Buehler had a 3.81 ERA. It’s now up to 5.36, entering the All-Star break.
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“He’s got a lot of innings under his belt, and maybe he just needs a little bit of a breather,” Stammen said. “But you can definitely see he’s not as sharp as he was back in June. But we’ll get him right, and get him back to that pitcher that we saw that was very effective for us.”
Again, the Padres bullpen was put under duress. Matt Waldron worked three scoreless on the day he was activated from the injured list. But Bradgley Rodriguez allowed Guerrero’s homer.
It’s hard enough for this bullpen right now, with Jason Adam, Jeremiah Estrada and David Morgan on the IL. It gets even harder each time a San Diego starter fails to work deep into a game.