San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
POSITIVE SIGNS ON AILING PITCHERS
News ‘very encouraging,’ skipper Tingler says
The Padres played their penultimate game Saturday night, a meaningless (to them) contest against the Giants at Oracle Park.
They won 6-2, their 36th victory in 59 games, assuring they will finish the season at least tied for the second-best record in the National League.
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his second home run in as many games to move into a tie with Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna for the NL lead with 17.
That was one of four hits the Padres had in a three-run fourth inning. By the sixth inning, manager Jayce Tingler was getting players rest, pulling Manny Machado and Tatis.
Tommy Pham added a two-run homer and Mitch Moreland a solo shot in the ninth.
Today will bring another game that doesn’t matter — except to the Giants, who likely need to win to make the postseason.
And then the Padres will wait. It’s all they can do.
Everyone knows how far into October their fantastic season lasts could hinge on the extent of arm injuries suffered in the final week. So it really does them no good to
fret at this point.
They have contingencies, sure. But they genuinely seem to believe they won’t need them.
As of Saturday, the Padres were cautiously bullish about the prospect of pitchers Dinelson Lamet and Mike Clevinger making starts in this week’s Wild Card Series.
“Right now, all the signs seem to be very encouraging,” Tingler said of Lamet, who departed his start Friday with what the Padres are calling tightness in his right (throwing) biceps.
The reports on Clevinger, Tingler said, were “ultra, ultra positive.”
Lamet briefly played catch and ran at Oracle Park on Saturday afternoon. The expectation is if he feels good today he will throw a bullpen session on Monday and start Wednesday’s playoff opener.
“That would be ideal,” Tingler said. “We’ve still got a ways to go, but that’s where everybody’s head is at today.”
Clevinger, who was diagnosed with a posterior elbow impingement after an MRI and X-rays, also played catch at Petco Park and could throw a bullpen Monday. He returned to San Diego after getting a cortisone injection in Dallas from elbow specialist Dr. Keith Meister.
“We don’t want to get overly excited, but he had a really good day,” Tingler said. “… We’ll wait and see. After you have a good workout, sometimes that day you feel good about, but sometimes the true test is how the body responds after the workout.”
Zach Davies, the presumptive third starter for the Wild Card Series, was on a limited pitch count in his start Saturday night. He ended up throwing three scoreless innings before being removed. Before the night was over, he was presumably packed in ice and shipped home for safekeeping.
All Davies has done this season is post a 2.73 ERA and 1.07 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched). His six quality starts tied Lamet for the team lead, and he went at least five innings in every start except Saturday.
Craig Stammen and Garrett Richards followed Davies by throwing two shutout innings apiece. The Giants scored two runs off Tim Hill in the eighth, the second coming after he had left the game with two outs and runners at the corners.
Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth.
While their pitching plans remain in limbo until they are certain about Clevinger and Lamet, Tingler expressed confidence the Padres could cobble together a pitching staff without much trouble for the best-of-three opening series.
“The most we’re going to be looking at is three games for the first round,” he said. “We have to see who’s going to be available. But I feel confident in the group that we’re not going to have to do anything drastic to get through those games. If this was a seven-game set I think some of those discussions would happen a little more. You may have to do something more drastic.”
With a 28-man roster this year, the Padres could continue to carry 15 pitchers in the postseason.
A further reason to be comfortable in a cushion is the presence of Chris Paddack, who Tingler said would “absolutely” be on the roster. Whether his job is starting a game or being available to fill innings in relief is to be determined.
“Can we wait and see with where we’re at with Clev and Lamet?” Tingler said. “That would help give us clarity to what role that is.”
It’s a waiting game at this point.
“There’s no guarantee in any of this,” Tingler said. “You feel good. We’re optimistic. We’re getting good information. … We feel good about moving forward, but we still have to wait and see.”
Withholding Wil
Right fielder Wil Myers reported feeling better after departing Friday night’s game with tightness in his quadriceps but was held out Saturday.
“He feels significantly better,” Tingler said. “The plan was to have a treatment day and continue to treat that quad with the idea of getting him out there (today) and getting him some at-bats and getting him going.”
Jurickson Profar, who has started 30 of the previous 35 games in right field, started in right field. When he replaced Myers there Friday, it was his first time playing there in the major leagues.