Padres rally past Athletics behind three home runs
SAN DIEGO (Interstat) — Ramón Laureano hit a tiebreaking home run with one out in the seventh inning and Manny Machado and Nick Castellanos also connected as the San Diego Padres beat the Athletics 7-3 on Friday night.
The Padres bounced back from consecutive losses to the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers and beat the AL West-leading Athletics for the ninth time in their last 10 meetings. had its three-game winning streak snapped, falling to 26-25, while San Diego improved to 30-20.
Athletics starter Jeffrey Springs carried a 3-2 lead into the fifth inning before Castellanos tied the game with a solo homer. Laureano put the Padres ahead for good in the seventh, driving Springs’ pitch over the left-field fence for his sixth home run of the season. San Diego added three runs in the eighth, highlighted by a two-run single from Gavin Sheets.
Oakland struck first in the opening inning. Carlos Cortes led off with a single to center and scored on Nick Kurtz’s double to center. Kurtz moved to third on a groundout by Shea Langeliers and scored on a groundout by Brent Rooker, giving the Athletics a 2-0 lead. The Padres answered immediately in the bottom of the first. Fernando Tatis Jr. walked, and two batters later Machado launched a line-drive homer to left-center field, scoring Tatis and knotting the score 2-2. Machado’s eighth homer of the year came off Springs.
The Athletics regained the lead in the fourth. Zack Gelof led off with a double to left, and Henry Bolte singled to center, driving in Gelof to make it 3-2. The Padres tied it again in the fifth when Castellanos hit a fly ball to left field that cleared the fence for his fourth homer of the season, evening the score 3-3.
The game remained tied until the seventh. After Xander Bogaerts flied out, Laureano connected on a 1-1 pitch from Springs, sending a fly ball to left field that gave the Padres a 4-3 lead. Springs, who allowed four runs on three hits over 6.1 innings with three strikeouts, took the loss and fell to 3-5. Adrian Morejon replaced Springs and struck out the side in the seventh, retiring Nick Castellanos, Bryce Johnson and the next batter in order. Morejon earned the win, improving to 4-1, pitching 1.1 perfect innings with three strikeouts.
San Diego broke the game open in the eighth against Athletics reliever José Suarez. Rodolfo Durán singled, Tatis singled, and Miguel Andujar singled to load the bases. Sheets then singled to left, driving in Durán and Tatis for a 6-3 lead. Machado struck out, but Bogaerts lifted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Andujar for a 7-3 advantage. Suarez faced three batters and allowed two hits and one walk before being pulled. Bradgley Rodriguez of the Padres pitched 0.2 scoreless innings in relief, allowing two hits.
Walker Buehler started for San Diego and worked five innings, giving up five hits and three earned runs while striking out four. Jeremiah Estrada tossed a scoreless sixth inning with one strikeout, and Jason Adam closed with a clean ninth inning, allowing one hit but no runs.
Key defensive plays included a double play in the third inning turned by shortstop Darell Hernaiz, second baseman Jeff McNeil and first baseman Nick Kurtz to end a Padres threat. In the fourth, a replay challenge overturned a called strike on Jeff McNeil, but McNeil later struck out on the same at-bat. threatened in the sixth, loading the bases with one out on a single by Bolte, a single by McNeil and a walk to Hernaiz, but Colby Thomas struck out to end the inning.
The Athletics had won three straight prior to Friday, including a 3-2 victory in 10 innings at the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday. The Padres had lost consecutive games to the Dodgers, 4-0 and 5-4, before Friday’s win. continues its road trip with the second game of this interleague series Saturday, while San Diego looks to build on the victory.
The announced attendance was 41,180 at PETCO Park. The game lasted 2 hours, 27 minutes.
Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of San Diego Padres 6, Athletics 4. Interstat’s ELO system projected San Diego with a 61.30 percent probability to win. San Diego was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus 1.5. The total score of 10 went under the over/under line of 8.