Reyes’ homer lifts Paddack, Padres to win over Arizona
SAN DIEGO — It’s hard to beat the San Diego Padres’ combination of slugger Franmil Reyes and rookie right-hander Chris Paddack.
Reyes hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to lift Paddack and the Padres to a 2-1 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night.
Luke Weaver (3-3) had outdueled Paddack (4-2) and got the first two outs in the sixth before allowing Greg Garcia’s two-out single to right and Reyes’ homer to center, his 15th.
“It feels great,” said the 23-year-old Reyes, who’s in his second big league season. “I didn’t feel my hands at all. Hit it right on the barrel.”
When he returned to the dugout, he kissed the bat. He said he received a shipment of new Victus bats earlier in the day, the same model as used by teammate Fernando Tatis Jr., who’s currently on the injured list.
“As soon as they arrive, I put two in my locker and say those are the two I’m going to use in the game today. That one that I kiss, I took to the cage to do my thing every time I face the pitcher,” he said.
“I’m feeling great. Any pitch that they throw close is going to get damaged. I’m seeing the ball pretty good right now.”
The Padres snapped a three-game losing streak
that had dropped them one game below .500 for the first time this season.
Reyes’ homer got Paddack off the hook for a loss and made him the winner.
“I was fired up, man. I knew due to the pitch count and the situation of the game, me being on deck in a close game, that was it for me. When you’ve got a guy on with two outs and Franmil’s up to the plate, man, everyone’s off the seats and right there on the rails. He crushed that one.”
Likewise, Paddack’s teammates love seeing him work.
“It’s great, man,” Reyes said. “It’s really fun to see from the outfield how he attacks the hitters and how he gets fired up and every time he strikes out somebody it’s great. Fires up all the team and makes the defense behind him proud.”
Paddack allowed one run and five hits in six innings, struck out seven and walked one. Weaver allowed two runs and four hits in six innings and also had seven strikeouts and no walks.
“That one just hurts,” Weaver said of Reyes’ home run. “You work your butt off to get to that spot in the game. Knowing how it felt early, stuff was running kind of armside. I just
felt like in that pitch it just wasn’t the right call and I kind of felt it before I threw it. It’s a mental error in my mind where I should just step off and kind of gather and either think about it or throw something else. I think I just tried to do too much with it knowing that balls were running and it just spun out of my hand, and a good hitter, power hitter, put a swing on it.”
Said manager Torey Lovullo: “You can’t make mistakes to him. We’re still trying to identify some soft landing spots where we can live with the damage. He’s a good player. He’s a good hitter, and when you make a mistake that can happen.”