Mejia Mania Continues at Petco Park
The Padres faced off vs the Texas Rangers this weekend at Petco Park. Despite losing two of three, the Padres latest call up provided Padre fans will one of the moments of the season on Sunday.
The series began with the Padres being shut out on Friday night. Four Rangers pitchers combined to hold the Padres offense to 5 hits. Texas got off to a 1-0 lead in the second on a Jurickson Profar single and added another run in the 5th on a Wil Myers error. Profar continued his strong game with a two run homer in the 7th to make it a 4-0 game, a lead the Rangers would hold on to and take the first game of the series.
On Saturday night the Padres fell behind 1-0 in the second on a Joey Gallo home run. San Diego responded in the 3rd however with a three run home run by Eric Hosmer, his 17th of the season. The game remained 3-1 until the 6th inning where the wheels fell off for the Padres. The Rangers scored 5 runs in the inning, all with two outs and took a 6-3 lead. The Texas bullpen shut down the Padres offense from there and took the second game of the series by a final score of 6-3.
The Padres were able to salvage the final game of the series on Sunday with one of their most exciting wins of the year. San Diego got on the board in the bottom of the first with a solo home run by Hunter Renfroe, his 23rd of the year. Texas tied the game in the 2nd inning, and took the lead in the 3rd with a pair of solo home runs and added another run in the 6th. Manny Margot cut the lead to 3-2 in the 7th with a RBI triple and the game went to the 9th with Padres down by a run.
Franmil Reyes singled with one out and Freddy Galvis drove him home to tie the game at 3. After a flyout by Margot, back to back walks loaded the bases with two outs for Francisco Mejia, who drove the first pitch he saw into right field for the Padres first walk off grand slam since 2015. It was Mejia’s third home run since his call up two weeks ago.
The Padres record is now 60-90 as the seasons winds down with just 12 games left. San Diego will welcome the San Francisco Giants into town this week for a three game series. Bryan Mitchell (1-3, 6.07 ERA) will get the start on Monday with Joey Lucchesi (8-8, 3.67 ERA) getting the ball on Tuesday.
