The law of averages and a weekend visit to Denver’s Coors Field served as a fortunate convergence of events for the San Diego Padres.
Consecutive wins on Saturday night and Sunday that saw San Diego score a total of 18 runs, or six more than it managed during a five-game losing streak, pushed them within a game of the National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.
And the Padres head home Monday night for the start of a seven-game homestand with the first of three games against the desperate Cincinnati Reds.
San Diego (78-65) even tapped into its dormant power stroke Sunday for four homers during an 8-1 win. That included the team’s longest homer of the year, a 452-foot poke from Manny Machado in the first inning with Luis Arraez aboard.
Manager Mike Shildt took pleasure in seeing Machado and Jackson Merrill combine for five hits, four of them for extra bases, after not producing at the plate earlier this week.
“The back of the baseball card tells us they’re elite performers,” Shildt said. “When you see them driving the ball the other way, it tells you the approach is right. Jackson (Merrill) was a triple away from the cycle, and it was good to see him doing that.”
Even with its longball explosion Sunday, the Padres rank 29th out of 30 MLB teams with 127 homers. They have only six players in double figures, and no one has more than Machado’s 23.
The Padres will start Yu Darvish (3-5, 5.75 ERA) on Monday night. The right-hander last worked on Tuesday night, struggling with his command during a 6-2 home loss to Baltimore.
Darvish gave up six hits and four runs (three earned) in four-plus innings and 91 pitches with two walks and six strikeouts. He’s 5-3 with a 3.09 ERA in 67 innings over 11 career starts against Cincinnati.
The Reds counter with left-hander Nick Lodolo (8-7, 3.22), who last pitched on Aug. 27 in a 5-1 road loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He permitted five hits and four runs over 4 2/3 innings, walking one and fanning six.
Lodolo, who was scratched from a scheduled start Tuesday night against Toronto due to illness, is 1-1 with a 2.60 ERA in 17 1/3 innings over three career outings against the Padres. That includes a June 29 start that saw him allow one run in 5 1/3 innings of his team’s 3-2 home win, although he didn’t get the decision.
Cincinnati (72-71) is coming off a 3-2 win Sunday over the visiting New York Mets that gave it a much-needed series victory. But the Reds trail New York by four games for the final NL wild-card spot with 19 games left.
However, the series win has Cincinnati players feeling optimistic that they can still surge down the stretch and earn a spot in the October pressure-cooker.
“It’s kind of been the story all year — find ourselves in a tough spot and find a way,” said Reds left fielder Austin Hays. “We had a really bad last two weeks. We’ve been playing a lot better baseball since then. We’re going to have a happy flight on our way to the West Coast and do some good things out there.”
–Field Level Media
