ALFARO EXPECTED TO AVOID IL STINT
A day after Jorge Alfaro exited Monday’s game following seven innings with recurring right knee inflammation, the Padres expected their catcher to avoid a trip to the injured list. Austin Nola was going to start Tuesday anyway — he’s caught all of Joe Musgrove’s starts this year — but Padres manager Bob Melvin believed he’d have Alfaro available off the bench if needed.
That same balky right knee forced Alfaro from a game in Arizona in late June, leaving Nola to handle catching duties for the next four games.
As an insurance policy, the Padres acquired 29year-old Cam Gallagher from the Royals last week for outfielder Brent Rooker and assigned him to Triple-A El Paso to share catching duties with top prospect Luis Campusano. Gallagher is 2for-8 with two RBIs in two games since reporting to the Chihuahuas.
Campusano, 23, is hitting .307/.375/.485 with 10 homers and 45 RBIs in his second year with El Paso.
Asked to assess the organizational catching depth chart, Melvin said: “They are the next wave, those two guys, and Gallagher was
brought in for a reason. Campusano is a top prospect in the organization. You always have to have an eye on if somebody gets injured, who you’re going to go to. I don’t know (who) that is at this point. We’ve been pretty good about the workloads for both our catchers here and kept them healthy to this point in the season. I hope that continues.”
A year after hitting the injured list three times, Nola is hitting .246/.316/.313 with two homers in 74 games while guiding pitchers to a 3.51 ERA over 5491⁄3 innings. Pitchers have a 4.13 ERA
over 4482⁄3 innings while working with Alfaro, who is hitting .266/.297/.419 with seven homers in 66 games.
Tatis’ switcheroo Fernando Tatis Jr.
was scheduled to see his first action in center field on Tuesday in Frisco with Double-A San Antonio. But with rainy weather in the forecast, Tatis was moved to shortstop to stay off the slick grass.
The Padres still expect Tatis to see time in center field in the minors before rejoining the team in mid-August. Tatis was 0-for-5 with two walks and a strikeout in his first two games with the Missions, one at DH and one at shortstop, but doubled, tripled, walked twice and scored two runs while playing six innings Tuesday.
As much as the rehab assignment has been about getting his timing at the plate, Tatis’ conditioning had also been a focus leading up to his rehab assignment and even in his early work since joining San Antonio.
“He’s worked really hard as far as conditioning his legs,” Melvin said. “He’s done it at short, he’s done it at center. Even before these games, he’s doing some conditioning on the field. He’s running the bases, doing a lot of things to speed up as far as the athletic part of it. … There are some things going on pregame that I think kind of get him conditioned to come back here and hopefully play a little bit more when he comes back.”
Notable
As expected, the Padres were not happy after Monday’s game with the replay review that overturned what they thought was a tying run scored by Brandon Drury in the seventh inning. “I thought I got my fingertips in there, and then obviously we all saw the same thing on the replay,” Drury said. “I just didn’t see anything to overturn it at all. It was a close play, no doubt. But the call on the field was safe, and I can’t believe they overturned that from what I saw.”
Said Melvin: “I’m done with replay. I don’t know. I mean, clear and convincing? I’m not sure. Certainly didn’t go our way.”
RHP Nick Martinez went 21 perfect innings in Monday’s loss, striking out five. It was the second straight appearance in which he pitched at least two innings. His previous seven previous outings had been four outs or fewer. Martinez has a 1.74 ERA in 31 innings as a reliever this year, compared with a 4.30 ERA in 521⁄3 innings as a starting pitcher. “He’s given us multiple innings, down games, up games,” Melvin said. “He’s got some saves. He’s about as versatile as you get right now. He gets lefties out. He gets righties out. He’s really found a unique niche that not too many guys do.”
RHP Pierce Johnson (elbow) threw another bullpen session before Tuesday’s game. He’s up to five or six, he said, but likely will need a couple more before facing hitters and then going on a rehab assignment.