WACHA FLIRTS WITH NO-NO
He doesn’t give up a hit until the eighth inning and gets a rousing ovation as Padres snap five-game skid
Manager Bob Melvin left Royals, three next week against Wacha in to start the eighth inning the Nationals and three to start even though he had thrown 101 the following week against the pitches, 18 shy of his career high. Marlins. The Padres will still have
“I was doing the math in there,” some swimming to do, but taking said Wacha, who had previously advantage of theoretically lesser come within one out and three opponents would help keep them outs of a no-hitter. “I would from drowning. have loved a three-pitch inning “Yeah, it is a good opportunity,” there in the eighth and Jake Cronenworth said before the another one in the ninth. I game, almost grudgingly. “But at was just trying to stay on the the same time, this is the big attack and maybe they’d hit leagues. These guys on the Royals, it to somebody. … Just left a they’re really good players. So it’s change-up up there, and he not one of those things that you put a good swing on it.” can just go out there and think
It was two pitches into the you’re gonna win this because you eighth that Michael Massey show up. you got to go do it.” lined a single to right field. The Padres were in no position That brought Melvin out of the to acknowledge they should come dugout to make a pitching change out ahead over this span. Having and most in the sellout crowd to its entered Monday three games below feet as Wacha walked off the field. .500, they are one of the alsorans
It was a strangely fitting start at this point. to a stretch in which the Padres But really, the Royals could not simply need to pile up victories.
The Padres hardly hit.
But they won.
Michael Wacha and walks were pretty much all that were needed for a 4-0 victory over the Royals at Petco Park, the Padres’ first win in six games.
“We needed any type of win,” shortstop Xander Bogaerts said.
The good news extended to the training room, as X- rays on Manny Machado’s left hand revealed no broken bones after he was hit by a pitch and left the game. How much time he misses — if any — will depend on the degree of swelling and Machado’s ability to tolerate pain as he grips the bat.
Wacha did not allow a hit until the second pitch of the eighth inning, and the Padres walked eight times in the first 32⁄3 innings.
They will play almost as many games against sub-.500 teams over the next two weeks as they have in the season’s first 61⁄2 weeks.
This portion of the schedule can be a life preserver. They Padres do play the Red Sox and Yankees in that span. But they also have two more games against the