Padres Take Opening Series vs. Giants
After weeks of anticipation, the Padres began their 2019 campaign winning three of four versus the San Francisco Giants.
The season began with a 2-0 win on opening day. Starter Eric Lauer silenced many of the questions people had about the starting pitching by throwing 6 strong innings allowing no runs on just four hits and striking out three.
Wil Myers provided all the offense the Padres needed with a solo shot in the third inning and a RBI single in the 6th.
After Lauer existed the game, the Padres bullpen allowed just one hit over the next three innings and Kriby Yates got the save for the opening day win.
The game also featured the major league debut of Fernando Tatis Jr. who made major league history along the way.
Friday night saw the Padres sport their brown uniforms for the first time this year as the strong pitching continued in a 4-1 victory.
Manny Machado got his first hit as a Padre with a single to left in the fifth inning.
Manny Margot opened the scoring with an two run single in the second inning and Ian Kinsler homered in the third to make it 3-0. A Framil Reyes sac fly in the 5th made it 4-0.
Joey Lucchesi provided another strong start going 5.1 innings allowing no runs on three hits and striking out seven.
Things got a bit shaky in the bottom of the 9th. Evan Longoria led off the inning with a solo home run and San Francisco was able to load the bases after a single, a walk and a hit batsmen before Yates struck out Gerardo Parra and Brandon Belt to preserve the win for San Diego.
Friday night also saw the debut of the Anchorman Races at Petco Park.
Saturday saw another strong outing from the Padres pitching staff but the offense was quiet in a 3-2 loss.
San Diego fell behind 3-0 in the top of the sixth but an Eric Hosmer two-run double in the bottom half of the inning cut the lead to 3-2.
From that point on however, the Padres were only able to muster up four hits vs the Giants bullpen while striking out seven times.
Sunday saw the much anticipated debut of Chris Paddack who lived up to the hype in his first career start going five innings allowing one run on just two hits and striking out seven.
Pablo Sandoval put the Giants up 1-0 with a RBI double in the top of the fifth but Eric Hosmer knotted the score up at 1 with a two out RBI single in the bottom of the inning.
A hustle play by Manny Machado in bottom of the seventh put the Padres up 2-1 as Machado beat out a double play allowing Hunter Renfroe to score.
Austin Hedges added an insurance in the bottom of the 8th and Kirby Yates picked up another save as San Diego won 3-1 and won its first series of 2019.
The Padres find themelves tied for first place in the NL West and will welcome the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three game series before taking their first road trip of the season to St. Louis.
Positive results on the field have been just one sign of the change in direction of the Padres franchise, but the community that populates the stands has also upped its game. In addition to the exciting potential of players like Tatis Jr. and Paddack, there’s also a new crop of Padres fans who have emerged just in time to jump on the burgeoning bandwagon.
The Voice of San Diego dedicated a whole segment of its wildly popular, but typically politically-oriented podcast to pitching the point in supporting the Padres, and several dozen long-suffering Padres Twitter members threw an opening day party at Bay City Brewing, raising money for charity while revelling in the audacity of hope that has permeated the Friars Faithful.
My dudes @thekeptfaith raised $200 for the Monarch School from #FriarFaithful celebrating Opening Day. It was a much different vibe this year. Thanks @Padres. https://t.co/ScFuvXZS6M
— Scott Lewis (@vosdscott) March 29, 2019
It is still early, but with three wins from four games, it’s hard not to feel like the future is Friar.
