Bill Center, longtime sportswriter for U-T San Diego, is an employee of the Padres.
The Padres scored all eight of their runs on five notable homers Monday night in their 8-1 win over the Orioles at Petco Park.
But the latest effort by rookie right-hander Chris Paddack was every bit as impressive.
Paddack earned the win, allowing one run on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.
In six starts since his 10-day June “vacation” in the Minor Leagues to limit his innings workload, Paddack is 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA. The Padres are 4-2 in those starts.
Since returning, Paddack has given up 8 runs on 19 hits and 10 walks for a 0.836 WHIP. He also has 32 strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings.
And Paddack continues to pad his excellent results at Petco Park, here he has allowed one or no runs in six of his eight home starts. Overall, Paddack is 5-2 at Petco Park with a 2.28 ERA.
Notebook
• SS Fernando Tatis Jr. has hit three of the four, game-opening homers by the Padres this season. Monday was the second time he drove the game’s first pitch out of the park. Tatis joins Alex Rodriguez (36 homers in 1996) and Carlos Correa (22 in 2015) as one of three shortstops in Major League history to hit 18 or more homers in their 20-year-old season. Tatis is also 7-for-17 with two homers, three RBIs and three runs scored in an active four-game hitting streak.
• The game-opening, back-to-back home runs by Tatis and Franmil Reyes marked the first time in Padres history that the first two hitters in a game homered on the first pitch they saw. However, the Padres record for back-to-back-to-back homers to start a start a game is three -- set by Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk on April 13, 1987, against the Giants at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.
• 1B Eric Hosmer’s two home runs Monday night marked the fifth time in his career -- and the first time as a Padre -- that he had multiple homers in a game. His five RBIs tied for the second-highest, single-game total in his career. He had six RBIs for Kansas City on July 26, 2017, against the Tigers.
• 2B Luis Urias’ first homer of the season snapped an 0-for-22 drought. It was also only his second hit in 27 at-bats since returning from Triple-A El Paso. Urias is now 4-for-51 on the season, a .078 batting average. But he has drawn 11 walks and been hit by a pitch three times for a .277 on-base percentage.
• RHP Andres Munoz allowed two hits with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 scoreless innings Monday night. The 20-year-old rookie has yet to allow a run on three hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts in eight innings over six appearances since being promoted to the Major Leagues on July 12.