SLAM DIEGO RETURNS
Sánchez does the honors in a five-run first; Wacha impressive in first start since July 1
Gary Sánchez made it Slam Diego again by hitting the Padres’ first grand slam of the season, infusing the excitement back into Petco Park for a night.
Michael Wacha returned to the starting rotation by throwing five scoreless innings, offering reason for more optimism.
The Padres added on and beat the Orioles 10-3 on Tuesday at Petco Park.
It was the kind of game that keeps hope afloat, despite the fact history says the Padres are just about sunk. The 2008 Dodgers were the last team to make the playoffs after being as far back as the Padres are with this few games remaining.
But winning this kind of game at least offers reason to believe it might not be too late. The pattern of following up such a performance with another like it, however, has suggested it is too little.
If the Padres score more than one run Wednesday, it will be just the seventh time they have done so in 13 chances after a game in which they score in double digits. If they win Wednesday, it will be the first time they will have won two in a row since the first two days of August.
The Padres are the only team in the major leagues to have not won more than three consecutive games this season.
Tuesday’s victory was just their third in 11 games. They had lost three in a row and seven of eight.
After most wins, especially the ones in which they score a lot of runs, they have taken to essentially shrugging as they volunteer that the next day is what is most important. And then the next day brings more misery.
“It’s no secret it has happened,” Sánchez said through interpreter Pedro Gutiérrez. “It has been a common thing for us. But we have to leave it in the past. We can’t think about that — something that already happened. Like today we had the perspective to come in, have fun, enjoy ourselves. And that’s pretty much the mindset we need to have for tomorrow. Just come in and have fun and make sure we have the same quality at-bats.”
For what was a rare night recently, things went the Padres’ way.
Three of the four teams immediately in front of them
in the National League wildcard race lost, and the Padres now sit 5½ games back in the race for the league’s sixth and final playoff spot.
Sánchez and Wacha did a lot of the work to get them there.
Wacha, pitching for the first time since July 1 and for just the second time since June 19 as he rested and rehabbed a fatigued shoulder, returned about as he was before.
The right-hander escaped his only jam, getting two strikeouts with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. That inning contributed to his having thrown 77 pitches after five, which with his layoff and the Padres’ 10-run lead was deemed enough.
Wacha, who lowered his ERA to 2.68, had a sizable cushion almost from the start.
The Padres hit balls hard and watched a lot of balls in scoring five runs in the first inning off Orioles starter Jack Flaherty.
All of the runs came with two outs, as Ha-Seong Kim led off with a double grounded down the left-field line at 98.5 mph before Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded out on a ball sent to shortstop at 102.8 mph and Juan Soto flied out to the wall at 99.8 mph.
Flaherty then walked Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth to bring in Kim.
Sánchez then reached out to send a 1-1 fastball off the plate the other way and just over the right-field wall. It was the first grand slam by a Padres player in 363 days. They were one of two teams to have not hit one this season.
The Padres pushed their lead to 7-0 in the second inning
when Tatis doubled, Soto walked and Machado drove in both with a double lined to left field.
The Padres doubled three times and pushed their lead to 10-0 in the fifth inning. Bogaerts
doubled with one out, moved to third on Sánchez’s two-out infield single and jogged home on Garrett Cooper’s double. Sánchez and Cooper scored on Ben Gamel’s double.
The Orioles scored a run against Steven Wilson in the sixth inning and two against Luis García in the ninth. Now comes the tough part. “We’ve played games like this, and then it’s the follow up
that’s the most important thing,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “But yeah, after we lose (three) in a row it was really a needed win.”