NEW YORK -- The bullpen door opened. Yet another soggy Padres reliever trotted from the left-center-field warning track to the Yankee Stadium mound. This time, it was Craig Stammen, the sixth San Diego pitcher in a stretch of eight batters.
The skies had opened. The Yankees’ offense had come to life. A once-sleepy ballpark turned electric. If Stammen and the Padres had wilted, they would’ve had any number of reasons to excuse their late-inning meltdown on a rainy night in the Bronx.
He didn’t. They didn’t. No excuses necessary. Maybe the 2019 Padres really are different.
"You pitch through it," said Stammen, after San Diego hung on for a tense 5-4 victory. "You had to suck it up and get it done. Obviously you wish it was sunshine and everything was great. Sometimes that's not the case. We had a little bit of a tough time in that seventh inning, but we got through it."
The Padres have serious questions in the middle of their bullpen, and those were on full display Tuesday night. But at the back end, they’ll take their chances with Stammen and Kirby Yates, who slammed the door by combining to record the final eight outs.
After 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball from Eric Lauer, the Padres led, 5-1, entering the seventh inning. That’s when things spiraled. Brad Wieck, Phil Maton and Robbie Erlin all allowed the first hitter they faced to reach base. Trey Wingenter, who recently returned from a shoulder strain, was unavailable on back-to-back nights.
“After the first runner got on, we started playing a little bit more matchups,” manager Andy Green said. “It didn’t work out well, so that’s what I take the heat for. Ultimately, we look at that situation and want to see guys rise up and claim that situation.”
None did, leaving Green in a precarious spot. In the pouring rain, if he called on Stammen to escape the seventh, he’d have no cover for the eighth in the event of a delay. Green rolled the dice and went to Stammen anyway.
In the moment, it looked like the move might backfire. Stammen allowed a single up the middle, then a slow chopper that stayed fair up the third-base line. With the bases loaded, Yankee Stadium came to life. Stammen coolly escaped, getting Aaron Hicks to ground out and Gary Sanchez to pop to left.
“This is a really tough place to play,” said first baseman Eric Hosmer, whose three-run first-inning homer gave the Padres an early cushion. “It was tough, it was rainy, it was wet. Craig did a good job shutting everything down.”
A fitting finish
On a strange night, filled with incessant rain and pitching changes, Yates delivered a fittingly strange finish.
He got DJ LeMahieu to hit a chopper toward short, where Manny Machado fielded and threw to second. Greg Garcia made a lightning-quick turn, but when Hosmer gloved the baseball, first-base umpire Andy Fletcher ruled LeMahieu safe. The Padres challenged the play instantly.
“I knew it was close,” Hosmer said. “I thought at first it’d be one of those deals where it’s whatever the call was on the field. After seeing the replay, I knew we had him. That’s my first walk-off on a replay.”
The infielders gathered behind the mound to watch the different angles on the center-field videoboard. Yates and catcher Austin Hedges only watched one replay. They figured LeMahieu might be out, but they couldn’t afford to let their focus drop, so they turned and began discussing how they’d pitch to Luke Voit.
After a short review, crew chief Joe West raised his fist in the air. The Padres poured onto the field from the third-base dugout. Yates had recorded his Major League-leading 21st save -- and his first against the team that helped turn around his career.
In one season in the Bronx, Yates posted a 5.23 ERA, and it’s clear he harbors no ill will toward the Yankees -- even noting that he agreed with their decision to place him on waivers. Now he’s one of the game’s most dominant closers, and fittingly, it was Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka who helped teach Yates his devastating splitter.
“I’m not the same pitcher I was when I was here, and that season was a huge reason why,” Yates said. “It feels good because we got the win. It’s not easy to come in here to Yankee Stadium and walk away from a situation like that with a win. That is the feeling that I enjoy.”
Red-hot Hosmer
The Padres needed only four batters to jump out to their 4-0 lead. The first three men reached base, including Machado on an RBI single, before Hosmer smacked a 111 mph rocket into Monument Park.
Hosmer, it seems, has changed the narrative surrounding his eight-year contract. (Perhaps one year wasn't an appropriate sample to deem it a bust.) The Padres first baseman pushed his average above .300 on Tuesday, before it dipped back to .298 after his 2-for-5 night. He downplayed the significance.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Hosmer said. “That’s how this game is. You’ve got to be consistent, ride it out. That’s the thing I’m most happy with. This last month, I’ve been consistent throughout the whole month, stepping up in key situations, trying to drive in runs. That’s my job.”
That’s what they’re paying him for. Lately, he’s been worth every penny.