ABRAMS IN LINE TO BE HERO UNTIL ...
Before Nabil Crismatt allowed the go-ahead homer to Kyle Schwarber, CJ Abrams stood to be the hero on a day in which the Padres were playing with a two-man bench: the light-hitting Sergio Alcantara and the hobbling Luke Voit.
The Padres’ rookie shortstop was 4-for-21 since returning from Triple-A El Paso when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. Abrams even fell behind in the count, 1-2, before driving a curveball into the right-center alley for a two-run, groundrule double.
It was just Abrams’ second hit off a breaking pitch in the majors this season. He entered Sunday hitting .286 against fastballs, .056 against breaking pitches and .136 on off-speed pitches.
Abrams was hitting .314/ .364/.507 with seven homers while getting everyday atbats with the Chihuahuas, something the Padres could not give him when they sent him to the Pacific Coast League last month.
“Getting better, getting better,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s getting into some at-bats now. Not as impatient as when we first saw him. Young guys want to swing early in the count and go get the first pitch a lot. He’s getting into some counts a little bit more and I think he’s going to be better for it.”
The Padres certainly
needed it Sunday, with Manny Machado still not ready to pinch-hit, Melvin hoping to stay away from having Trent Grisham swing the bat after he was a late scratch Saturday night and Voit slowed by hamstring and calf injuries.
Grisham entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning after Voit struck out as a pinch-hitter against left-hander Jose Alvarado with a runner on third in the eighth.
“At times in the season, you’re going to have to do that,” Melvin said of navigating the two-man bench. “We certainly aren’t going to put Manny on the IL. It was certainly too premature to put Grish on the IL, so you just have to do it. And today’s game, we still have a really good chance to win the game.
“We had one matchup
with Luke that was a good one for us, but just came up short.”
Harper and Snell
Make no mistake about it: Bryce Harper was certainly upset after taking a Blake Snell fastball off his left thumb in the fourth inning Saturday night, the reigning NL MVP visibly upset and appearing to shout in Snell’s direction.
But Harper also made sure that Snell knew his anger wasn’t actually directed at the Padres’ lefthander — just the thought that he was headed to the injured list indefinitely.
“I’ve been playing against Blake since we were 10 or 11 years old,” Harper told the Philadelphia media late Saturday night. “I know there was no ill will behind that at all. It’s all part of the game. The inside pitch is part of the game. It just got away from him.”
Snell and Harper exchanged texts after the game. The two first played together in a travel ball tournament in Riverside.
“Honestly I felt terrible hitting him,” said Snell, admitting he was a little “rattled” by it during the Phillies’ three-run fifth. “I don’t do that. He knows that. So we’ve talked and handled it. It was never anything. Just emotionally, he plays with a lot of passion and I can understand why he’d be upset. I’m just as upset as he is. I hit him. I don’t hit people.
“Just hope he recovers quickly and gets back out there and continues to compete.”
Watching running game
Two years ago, Austin Nola threw out six of 11 runners attempting to swipe bases as he joined the Padres, reversing a 1-for-15 start to the season with the Mariners. Since then, he’s 8for-60, including allowing three of four to swipe second base on Sunday.
Steals by Odubel Herrera and Bryson Stott set up run-scoring hits in the Phillies’ two-run second. Nick Castellanos also swiped second base in the first inning and was later thrown out by Nola.
“Every run matters, for sure,” Nola said. “We’ve got to do a good job of paying attention to that — and I think we will. I know that. At the end of the day, we made good pitches. They got some clutch hits. They got a good steal and a couple hits after that. You give credit to them.”
Asked what he can improve on his end to approach how successful he was in 2020, Nola said: “Being a little quicker. Obviously, clean up the transfers. That’s the key for sure.”
Notable
With RHP Steven Wilson landing on the 15-day injured list with left hamstring tendinitis, the Padres recalled LHP Ray Kerr from Triple-A El Paso. RHP Nick Martinez was also available in an emergency, however unlikely it was with Yu Darvish starting Sunday’s game. Martinez could pitch Tuesday if needed, too, but the Padres are leaning toward using him behind RHP Mike Clevinger in some capacity on Wednesday in Arizona.
• Machado’s pre-game activity was limited to swinging in the indoor cage, something of a “down day,” Melvin said, after he’d ramped up activity the previous three days. Machado has not yet been available for pinch-hitting.
• Grisham (shoulder), a defensive replacement in the ninth, also swung in the cage before Sunday’s game and would have been allowed to hit for himself had he come up in the bottom of the ninth.