INSURANCE RUNS AND THEN SOME
Late runs, including Kim’s homer, put Padres ahead for good in Atlanta opener
ATLANTA
The homer (and some insurance runs) did it this time.
They saved the Padres from their first losing streak in nearly a month. They saved Wil Myers from having to lament a costly blunder. They saved Robert Suarez from shouldering the weight of another lost lead.
Ha-seong Kim, after a series of long and far outs in the past couple weeks, finally put one where no one could catch it — into the visitors’ bullpen beyond left field — to put the Padres on top for good in the eighth inning, and three relievers and four more runs in the ninth inning kept them there in an 11-6 victory over the Braves on Friday.
“What I loved most about the game tonight was there were some tough moments,” acting manager Ryan Christenson said. “We went ahead, had a couple of plays that had some guys feeling a little bit down right there, and the team picked them up. We bounced right back and came right back out and scored a bunch of runs, had a bunch of hits. There was a lot of good things that happened for some guys today.”
Myers also homered, his first of the season, and the Padres have hit five in the past two games after not hitting that many in the previous nine games.
“Even in our offense last year the
slug wasn’t there,” Myers said. “We get that slug back and be able to put up some bigger innings … that’s one thing we’ve been slightly missing. I think the more we get to playing the more we’ll start to see the ball go over the fence.”