Solarte hits 2 HRs in front of 3 daughters

Padres infielder lost wife to cancer in September

June 18th, 2017

MILWAUKEE -- After hitting his second homer of the game on Saturday, immediately pounded his chest and pointed into the stands at Miller Park.
The Padres infielder was pointing to his three young daughters in the crowd, who were visiting him in Milwaukee for the familiy's first Father's Day since losing their mom, Yuliette, to cancer in September. Their dad's two-homer game helped power the Padres' 7-5 win over the Brewers in 11 innings.
"That's why I like to signal and point to the sky for God and for everything that's happened," Solarte said. "Everything I do is for them, so it was a good moment."
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Solarte's big night started with a homer off Brewers starter Chase Anderson to lead off the second inning, and it ended with a go-ahead two-run shot off Brewers reliever in the 10th.
Along with Solarte, , and all went deep, contributing to the Padres' season-high five home runs. When Spangenberg and d'Arnaud hit home runs in the 11th, it gave the Padres their highest total since they hit five in an 18-inning win on May 25, 2008, vs. the Reds.

"Our guys fought all day," Padres manager Andy Green said. "The good thing we saw today is we got hits late in extra innings, which typically we've folded in those situations."
The win comes after an extra-innings loss in the series opener on Friday, where Brewers slugger hit a two-run shot in the 10th inning off to seal the Brewers' 6-5 victory. Three Padres -- Solarte, Myers and -- went yard in that loss, but all bounced back by collecting RBIs in Saturday's win.
"To lose the way we lost yesterday, it's OK. Those things happen," Solarte said. "We were fighting, we were making adjustments and we were going back and forth. If we're going to end up having a loss like that, it isn't that nobody's trying or isn't working hard. Those things happen. And you see today -- we come back and we have the same type of game and we win. As long as everybody's still going about things the right way and working hard and trying, the results are going to end up coming."
The 29-year-old Venezuelan has held a hot bat against the Brewers in the past, batting .338 (27-for-80) with 13 runs in 22 games against them. But Green credits a change in the batting order to Solarte's hot June, where he's reached base in each of his last 10 games and owns a .467 on-base percentage in that span.
"He went through a slow spell early part of May, late part of April, and it took a while to get his swing back. We bounced him to the two-hole, and he started to get base hits again," Green said. "We always knew the power was going to come again, and it's coming now. It's good to see him get some balls out to the pull side. There was a number of guys who had some big swings today, and it was good to see that."