It's hard to say what was in the air tonight. The excitement of a holiday weekend, perhaps? Or maybe it was the presence of Padres legends from the 1984 team. And then there were those gorgeous uniforms. But I think it was sexy man on the mound. Tim Stauffer was making his first start since 2012, and it was just about the greatest performance you could ask for a guy straight out of the bullpen. The Cubs were kept to just two hits and a walk in his five innings of work, while Stawesome added 5 Ks to his kill count.
But as great as Timmy was tonight, this game was all about the offense. Eleven runs sets the team's high mark for the season, and they did it with just 12 hits and 3 walks. The only position player without a hit was Will Venable, and he made up for it with a walk and an RBI. Five different Padres had multi-hit games: Everth Cabrera, Cameron Maybin, Chase Headley, Yonder Alonso, and Jedd Gyorko. Alonso in particular had a fantastic night, hitting his second home run in 8 days (much better than the 361 days between the last pair). He was also joined by Yasmani Grandal in the home run column.
The runs were contagious (go ahead, get your giggles out), as every team in the organization joined in the fun. The El Paso Chihuahuas scored 7 on a round 10 hits, the San Antonio Missions plated 12 on a whopping 22 hits, the Lake Elsinore Storm knocked in 9 on their 15 hits, and the Fort Wayne Tincaps put everybody to shame with 17 runs on just 16 hits. Good baseball all around, folks.
Hopefully the runs will keep on coming when Billy Buckner gets the call tomorrow. First pitch at 7:10 PM.