TEAM’S ‘FLUKE’ HOME RUN STREAK COMES TO END AT 25
Partially by design (remember all those Rule-5 picks?), the Padres were not very good during the Andy Green era. They, like any team, had their moments, like when they tied the NL record by homering in a 25th consecutive game on this date — July 27 — in 2016.
It was a feat reached only by the 1941 Yankees (25), 1994 Detroit Tigers (25), 1998 Atlanta Braves (25) and the 2002 Texas Ranges, who own the all-time mark with homers in 27 consecutive games.
Not that Green, in the middle of his first year as manager, put a whole lot of stock in the accomplishment.
“Our chase percentages are down outside the strike zone, we’re forcing guys into the zone more often, (and) we’re walking more than we were early in the season, kind of making our offense turn over more than we were early in the season,” Green told the Union-tribune after an 8-4 win in Toronto. “Those things you can control. Hitting the ball out of the ballpark 25 straight days, it’s a borderline fluke. It’s just one of those things that happen.”
With Adam Rosales, Brett Wallace and Alex Dickerson homering in the 25th game, the streak had powered a 1415 run, not all that bad considering Green’s Padres won only 68 games his first year in San Diego. It was snapped two days later after an off-day when the Reds blanked the Padres, 6-0, at Petco Park.
Wil Myers led the Padres with 28 homers in 2016, followed by 23 from Matt Kemp and 20 from Ryan Schimpf.
Also on this date
1993: RF Tony Gwynn went 5-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIS in an 8-0 win at Wrigley Field to surpass Dave Winfield (626) as the Padres’ all-time RBI leader. Gwynn finished his career with 1,138 RBIS.
1996: The Padres set records for runs scored in a nine-inning game—both individually and by themselves — in a 20-12 win at Florida. 1B Wally Joyner drove in five runs on three hits and CF Steve Finley scored four times and collected four hits. The Padres’ 20 RBIS were also a record. The Padres tied the runs record on May 19 in 2001 in Montreal with a 20-7 win.