Hader melts down in 9th, Nats stun Padres 6-3
SAN DIEGO — Victor Robles scored the go-ahead run on Josh Hader’s wild two-base throwing error and rookie Alex Call followed with his first career home run, a two-run shot, as the Washington Nationals stunned the San Diego Padres 6-3 on Friday night.
It was the second straight rough outing for Hader (2-5), the major league leader in saves who has struggled since being obtained from Milwaukee on Aug. 1. Hader was booed as he walked off the field after being pulled by manager Bob Melvin.
Hader started the ninth in a 33 game and issued a leadoff walk to Robles, drawing boos for a second straight night. Hader fielded Lane Thomas’ tapper between the mound and the third base line and threw wildly past first baseman Josh Bell, with Thomas given a single. The ball caromed off the low wall and into right field, where Juan Soto lunged wildly for it but missed. That allowed Robles
to come all the way around and score the go-ahead run.
Call then drove a two-run shot into the left field seats. He made his big league debut on July 11.
“I was like, ‘Heck yeah,’ ” Call said about watching that play unfold from the on-deck circle. “As soon as Soto dove for the ball and missed it, or it got by him, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re going to score right here.’ That was huge because we were winning. Laner was on third so I was like, ‘OK,
time to drive this guy in.’
“It was kind of a circus, but a good circus in our favor.”
Melvin said Hader’s situation “has to resolve itself one way or the other at this point. New team, got off to a little bit of a slow start. Gave him a clean inning today, two days in a row, trying to get him some work and get him through it. It certainly didn’t happen for him today but we’ll see where it goes.”
This is the second series between the teams since the Nationals, who have the worst record in the majors, sent Soto and Bell to San Diego in exchange for a package of major leaguers and prospects on Aug. 2. The Padres, trying to hold onto the third wild-card spot in the NL, took two of three in Washington last weekend and the Nationals won the opener of this series 3-1 on Thursday.
“They’re playing well,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “You get good pitching, you get good defense, the hitting will come and go, and right now we’re getting opportunities to score some runs.”
Erasmo Ramirez (4-1) pitched a perfect eighth for the win and Kyle Finnegan worked the ninth for his seventh save.
Padres starter Blake Snell was pitching not quite 24 hours after he was involved in a minor traffic collision. He was sitting in his car on the side of Interstate 5 during a traffic stop when it was hit by another car. Melvin said Snell was cleared by the medical staff earlier Friday.
Snell allowed three runs and seven hits in five innings, struck out seven and walked two.