San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
PADRES’ OFFENSE FINALLY AWAKENS
Cronenworth homer in 9th ties it, then walk-off wild pitch wins it in 10th
It’s alive.
The Padres’ offense breathed. Then it kicked.
Then it ran all the way home. Adam Frazier scored from third base in Saturday’s 10th inning when a pitch from Philadelphia Phillies reliever Connor Brogdon bounced well in front of the plate and skipped past catcher Andrew Knapp to give the Padres a 4-3 win and prevent them from falling out of playoff position for the first time in exactly four months.
Wil Myers began the inning on second base and went to third on
Adam Frazier’s single. Myers was caught in a rundown on Ha-seong Kim’s grounder. With Frazier on third and Kim on second, Trent Grisham came to the plate and was down 1-2 when Brogdon bounced the fateful change-up.
“Everything has been tough as of late, nothing has been easy,” manager Jayce Tingler said. “… To come out on top, really proud of the group.”
Mark Melancon got the win by pitching the final two innings.
Down 1-0 from the game’s second pitch and with the Cincinnati Reds having won earlier in the day, the Padres were going to need to score to remain tied for the top spot for the second wild card.
They will need to continue to score enough to win plenty more games over the next six weeks if they have any hope of showing last year’s 60-game run to the postseason was not a fluke and preventing this season from being a failure.
It was Jake Cronenworth who provided the punch that prolonged what would become the Padres’ first victory in five games and second in their past 10.
He sent the 117th pitch from Phillies starter Aaron Nola to the party deck beyond right-center field to tie the game.
“That was awesome,” Cronenworth said of the victory. “… It felt similar to the game we walked off Cincinnati. Everything we were going through, tough stretch, struggling. To get that win at home in front of a big crowd kind of sparked us.”
Cronenworth referred to a June
17 victory over the Reds that followed a 4-12 stretch and was the first of eight straight victories.
“No matter what situation we are in the game, like tonight, Nola is throwing a perfect game, we find a way to get a guy on, Manny (Machado) drives the guy in,” Cronenworth said. “It’s just finding a way to win the game. Whether it’s ugly or looks good, just to get the win is what we’re looking for.”
Nola was seeking the second nine-inning complete game of his career and the season.
He was an out away when Cronenworth drove a 3-1 sinker an estimated 410 feet — and just inches beyond the glove of Phillies center fielder Travis Jankowski, the former Padre who had leaped well above the wall.
The Padres’ first order of business in the comeback was putting someone on base against Nola, who was perfect through six innings in front of 43,383 at Petco Park.
Grisham, leading off the seventh inning, achieved that aim when Phillies first baseman Brad Miller tried to backhand a chopper only to have it go off his glove and roll into right field.
The third-largest crowd of the season finally got loud.
And the Padres finally got a hit in a game started by Joe Musgrove. And that hit drove in a run.
Grisham stole second base during Fernando Tatis Jr.’s strikeout before Machado lined the first pitch he saw in the inning into center field to tie the game 1-1.
After Cronenworth flied out, Padres catcher Austin Nola walked against his younger brother before Eric Hosmer struck out to end the inning.
The tie didn’t last long. Aaron Nola led off the eighth with a double to rightcenter field off Daniel Hudson, who had pitched a perfect seventh in relief of Musgrove.
Tim Hill replaced Hudson, and Nola moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Odubel Herrera before Hill walked Jean Segura and Bryce Harper to load the bases. Hill’s next pitch hit left-handed hitting Didi Gregorius above his right elbow.
Austin Adams entered the game and struck out Andrew Mccutchen before forcing in another run by hitting Miller. Ronald Torreyes struck out to end the inning.
Nola got through a 1-2-3 eighth inning in just 12 pitches. It was the sixth time he completed an inning in a dozen or fewer pitches. He began the ninth with his 11th strikeout, setting down Grisham. Tatis followed with a walk before Machado lined out and Cronenworth tied it up.
As the Padres worked on rediscovering their offense, the Reds were enjoying a temporary stay ahead of them in the National League standings.
Their victory over the Marlins on Saturday put them a half-game up on the Padres in the race for NL’S final wild-card spot. The Padres pulled back into a tie with the victory.
April 21 was the last time the Padres were not in possession of a playoff spot, either in first place in the NL West (for nine straight days near the end of May) or as a wild card.
Nola struck out seven in a row between the second and fourth innings and allowed one ball out of the infield before Machado’s single.
This, exactly one week after the Padres were no-hit by Arizona Diamondbacks rookie Tyler Gilbert, a game also started by Musgrove.
Where a week ago in Arizona, Musgrove allowed five runs in the first inning, making the result seem inevitable almost from the start what has for a while been a largely punchless Padres team, Musgrove did a quick U-turn Saturday en route to his fifth quality start in his past six games.
Herrera hit a home run on the game’s second pitch.
Musgrove’s 1-2 curveball hit Segura. Harper followed with a single.
Musgrove retired the next eight batters he faced before Harper singled with two outs in the third. That was the only hit Musgrove gave up the rest of the way. He walked successive batters with two out in the fourth before getting a groundout.
His final out in the sixth was his ninth strikeout of the game, achieved with his 99th pitch.
“I know what those guys on the offensive side are feeling. (Nola) was the best any of us have seen him,” Musgrove said. “I know if I can keep it to one run, they still feel like they’re in the game.”