San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
PADRES LOVE OVERTIME
Rally from 5-0 down is capped by Myers’ three-run home run
For the first time in their history, the Padres played extra innings for a fourth straight game.
It was worth it.
“It’s so rewarding,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said.
The bullpen is depleted. The training room will be full into the night and then again early this morning. But it is better to win at the end of five hours and seven minutes.
And the Padres keep winning. Saturday’s 11-8 victory over the Astros was their 16th in 19 games.
“A group of men who just refuse to give in and just absolutely keep going,” said manager Jayce Tingler, who watched the final few innings on TV after being ejected for arguing a replay review in the eighth inning. “Unbelievable. Laying everything they got out there. From pitching to defense (and) offensively, it’s a group that won’t go away. And I love every aspect of it.”
A day doused by disappointment for so long was prolonged by a blast from Tatis and two blown saves and then won by another big blast.
Wil Myers’ three-run homer in the top of the 12th was the difference, and Miguel Diaz finally ended the Padres’ longest game of the season by retiring the Astros in order.
In the bigger scope, Diaz ending a game Mark Melancon and Austin Adams could not was possibly as heroic as what Myers and Tatis did with their three-run homers.
“To be able to finish this
one off when everybody is running on fumes and giving everything they’ve got,” Tingler said. “We’re obviously getting short back there.”
There were many heroes’ capes necessary.
Manny Machado grounded a high fastball through the right side to score Ha-seong Kim from third base with two outs to give the Padres an 8-7 lead in the top of the 11th.
The Astros scored against Adams in the 11th on a sacrifice bunt and a twoout passed ball.
Eric Hosmer began the 10th on second base and, with Myers up as the leadoff batter, went to third on a wild pitch. Myers walked before Hosmer scored on Jurickson Profar’s double-play grounder.
Carlos Correa’s double off Melancon tied the game in the bottom of the 10th.
This is how the Padres do it lately.
On Friday, they scored seven runs in the 11th inning to beat the Astros 10-3.
“It’s tough, it’s tough,” Tatis said. “These games really drain us. … What can I say? We fought.”
Little by little Saturday, the Padres chipped away at the 5-0 lead the Astros built in Yu Darvish’s five innings.
But every run they scored was steeped in or followed by disappointment. When Tatis came to the plate representing the tying run with two outs in the ninth inning, the Padres had just three hits in 14 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Then they finally got a big hit. Another huge hit from Tatis.
That blast came one pitch after Houston first baseman Taylor Jones failed to catch a foul pop-up near the stands by first base.
“As I was watching it, I was trying to find the net and kind of keep track where the net was (and) obviously keep my eye on the ball,” Jones said. “Kind of overran the ball a little bit. … Opportunity to win a game right there. You make a play, the game’s over.”
Tatis then turned on a 95 mph fastball up and in and watched his rocket at 114.9 mph sail all the way to the back wall of Minute Maid Park before he began his jog around the bases, his threerun homer having just tied the game 6-6.
“It was top rail, in,” said Astros pitcher Ryan Pressly, who blew his first save in eight chances. ”We’d been going there all day and had success with him. I think he just cheated on it. You have to tip your cap to him. He’s an unreal hitter. … He finally decided he wasn’t going to get beat there anymore and just sold out for it and got it.”
Pierce Johnson survived
Jose Altuve’s leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth, and the Padres were on to a 10th inning for the second night in a row here after finishing their series in Milwaukee by splitting two extra-inning games.
Even before Tatis’ homer, the Padres had outhit the Astros. But they were unable to bunch those hits enough to get more than three runs in the first eight innings.
Tatis’ home run was his 15th, tying him for the National League lead and putting him one off the major league pace. But it was his first hit in four at-bats with runners in scoring position. He did drive in the Padres’ first run with a basesloaded groundout on a 3-0 pitch.
That cut the Astros’ lead to 5-1.
Victor Caratini led off the sixth with a single to break up Astros starter Jake Odorizzi’s run of 14 straight batters retired, and a single by Tommy Pham and lineout to center field finished Odorizzi’s day. Jake Cronenworth greeted reliever Brooks Raley with a single to load the bases before Tatis chopped a 3-0 cutter up the middle for a groundout that brought in Caratini.
With the Astros up 6-1, Machado led off the eighth inning with a double, Cronenworth followed with a walk and both scored on singles by Hosmer and Myers. But for the second time in a three-inning span, the Padres failed to bring in multiple runners in scoring position who got there with less than two outs.
But they weren’t done. “We’re always in the game,” Tatis said. “No matter what’s the score, especially with the team that we have, I feel like we’re always in the game and we just are not afraid of the situation and we just keep that line moving.”
kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com