Padres use small ball - and a pair of Fernando Tatis Jr. homers - to push past Cubs
Yu Darvish got back on track Saturday. The Padres got contributions, big (two Fernando Tatis Jr. homers) and small (ball). Even before a 6-0 win over the Chicago Cubs in front of a sellout crowd of 42,655, the Padres got news that was better than anyone expected after Rougned Odor needed to be helped off the field a night earlier.
The 29-year-old infielder, the unlikeliest of sparkplugs on this star-studded but hamstrung roster, could avoid the injured list.
Could.
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“I feel good,” Odor said after an on-field workout in right field. “I mean, obviously not good, good. But I feel pretty good in comparison to how I walked off the field (Friday).”
Indeed.
Odor was thinking double out of the box in the eighth inning but felt something in his groin as he approached first base. He was happy to settle for a single, but the ball was botched in right-center, forcing Odor to find a way to hobble into scoring position.
“I (felt) it like before I stepped on first,” Odor said. “I think that’s why I feel pretty good right now, because I (didn’t) push it the whole way. I was like, ‘I feel it and I gotta slow it down.’ I think that’s why I feel good right now.”
Odor estimated he worked out on the field at about 70 percent intensity, progressing from a series of straight-line jogging exercises during batting practice to shagging in the outfield.
Optioned to Triple-A El Paso on Friday, José Azocar would have been the obvious choice to return, but Azocar was in the Chihuahuas lineup on Saturday as the Padres’ confidence in Odor avoiding the injured list increased with each positive step forward.
“I’m going to (stay off the IL),” Odor said, and he wasn’t the only one who shared that opinion.
“I think he will; I do,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ll see how he is come (Sunday). We have a couple days and then an off-day, if he doesn’t respond from today until tomorrow. But I feel pretty good about it right now.”
Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) rounds the bases following his eighth-inning homer. (Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Padres certainly don’t want to entertain the idea of any length of time without Odor, something nobody would have said when he signed a minor league deal in the middle of spring training.
He’s hitting just .216/.303/.420 on the season, but .310/.396/.619 with three homers and 14 RBIs in 13 games since the day after a runaway slider forced Manny Machado to the shelf. His bases-clearing double helped make sure the Red Sox would not sweep the Padres at home last month and a ninth-inning home run made sure they won last week’s series in Washington.
“This guy has done so much the last three weeks for this team,” Tatis said. “He’s a huge part of us.”
Added Machado: “He’s been key for us, carrying us.”
Padres third baseman Manny Machado sits after attempting to throw out a Cubs runner at first base during the seventh inning. (Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Somebody has to.
A star-studded roster with a $246 million opening day payroll began Saturday closer to last place in the NL West (1 1/2 games) than .500 (five games). They were six games under .500 at Petco Park, an MLB-worst 3-11 in one-run games and have a .220 team batting average that’s only better than an Oakland team spiraling toward a 130-loss season.
And more than one person did on Saturday, what with small ball getting the Padres rolling early, Tatis tacking on insurance and Darvish making it stand up with seven shutout innings.
The Padres’ ace threw 115 pitches, his most in nearly six years, in piling up nine strikeouts in a bounce-back from last week’s unraveling in New York (2 2/3 IP, 7 ER). He scattered two hits, walked one and didn’t allow a runner past second base in his first pairing with newcomer Gary Sanchez.
An early lead helped.
After Machado flied out to strand Juan Soto’s first-inning double, Gary Sanchez and Jake Cronenworth opened the second with singles off Drew Smyly. Ha-Seong Kim bunted them over and Brandon Dixon drove a ball to right to plate the game’s first run.
Cronenworth advanced to third on the sacrifice fly and scored easily when Trent Grisham followed with a double to right-center.
A half-inning later, Tatis’ 10th homer opened up a 3-0 lead for Darvish and his 11th — after Kim and Grisham singled in the eighth — gave the Padres’ a six-run cushion.
But it started with Kim’s bunt setting up a two-run second.
“That’s what started the game,” Tatis said of Kim’s bunt. “That’s what started it. I would say that when the small ball is played, the long ball comes after. That was great execution all the way around and that gave us the lift to keep going make that hard punch at the end.”
Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune
