SAN DIEGO -- Friday marked the start of a stretch that will see the Padres play 26 games in 27 days. Fourteen of those games are against key division rivals. The next month won’t decide their season. But it should go a long way toward telling us who these Padres really are.
And so, three hours before that grueling stretch was to begin, they took infield practice as a team.
As much as anything, it was symbolic. Manager Mike Shildt has been steadfast in his desire to “win on the margins.” The Padres did exactly that, in their 3-2 series-opening victory over the Pirates on Friday night at Petco Park.
They were outhit by Pittsburgh, 7-3. Pirates starter Mitch Keller more or less matched Nick Pivetta on the mound. (Both were very sharp.) But, well, the Padres won this game on the margins. All three of their runs came courtesy of excellent baserunning -- and they prevented at least one more with some smart defending.
“We spend a lot of time working on different ways you can win baseball games,” Shildt said. “And you win ‘em in all different shapes and forms.”
This Padres lineup is loaded with superstars and All-Stars. They’ll win plenty of games on talent alone. This wasn’t one of those games. And they won it anyway. The nature of San Diego’s ability to win on those margins was on full display in the fourth inning.
In the top half, Pirates right fielder Bryan Reynolds hit a liner into the right-field corner that looked ticketed for extra bases. Fernando Tatis Jr. was on it in a flash, then spun and unleashed a throw to second. Clearly, his reputation preceded him. Reynolds froze in his tracks and retreated to first base. One batter later, he was erased by an inning-ending double play that, with any other right fielder, almost certainly doesn’t happen.
“He kind of keeps guys at bay on the bases,” Pivetta said. “It helps me a lot. I’m able to get a ground-ball double play after that. It’s just teammates helping teammates. He’s an extraordinary right fielder.”
Then, the bottom of the frame. With two outs and the bases empty, Manny Machado hit a gapper -- this one much less a certainty for extra bases than Reynolds’. But Machado raced for second out of the box, and slid smartly to the inside of the basepath avoiding a tag.
One batter later, Jackson Merrill hit a sharp grounder toward short where Machado froze, making the play ever-so-slightly trickier on Pirates shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The gambit worked. Kiner-Falefa was caught in between a backhand and a forehand. The ball kicked away. Machado scampered home. Out of nothing, the Padres led.
“Keller threw the ball well,” Shildt said. “He was on the ground a lot, and there was nothing really free there. So we've got to figure out a way in other areas. That, ultimately, is the definition of grit.”
The two sides went back and forth. Pittsburgh scored twice in the sixth. The Padres answered with two more -- again, courtesy of some excellent baserunning.
Tatis led off the inning with a walk, before he and Luis Arraez flawlessly executed a hit and run. (No, it’s not a lost art; yes, it helps to have a hitter like Arraez at the plate.) Tatis took off for second, Arraez shot a bouncer into the left-field corner. Tatis chewed up ground and scored easily.
“It’s so much fun to watch that guy fly around the bases, man,” Shildt said. “It’s really special.”
A batter later, Arraez cannily advanced to third on Machado’s fly ball to right, forcing the Pirates to bring their infield in. Merrill followed with a sharp grounder to second baseman Adam Frazier. Arraez’s secondary lead was strong, and he broke on contact, sliding into the plate just before the tag. The Padres had a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“That detail won us a ballgame today,” Tatis said.
Sometimes a bit of good fortune helps, too. It got dicey late. Jason Adam loaded the bases in the eighth. Robert Suarez was called upon for his first four-out save of the season and threw what looked like ball four to Henry Davis. It was instead called strike three by plate ump Edwin Jimenez.
Their lead intact, the Padres could exhale. As they did, blink-182’s “All The Small Things,” blared from the Petco Park sound system, and the ballpark sang in unison.
A fitting anthem on a night like this one.