On Friday night, the Padres won with great pitching and a bit of well-timed hitting. Well, Clayton Richard didn’t have his out pitch working tonight, giving up four runs over five innings. Three of those runs came on a pair of homers by Evan Longoria and Andrew McCutchen. But Richard’s offense had his back, as Christian Villanueva and Hunter Renfroe both went long against the Giants to ensure a series split.
The Padres got on board early thanks to a leadoff double from Jose Pirela. Two sacrifice flies brought him home and Villanueva to the plate. After taking the first two pitches, he got a sinker right in the center of the zone, and he punished Derek Holland for it. It was his first blast since his three-shot performance in the last homestand, and it was a bomb.
Check out the wallop @Villa_at_3B put on this ⚾️!#LetsGoPadres pic.twitter.com/OMYN6V1LX9
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 15, 2018
That lead held until the fourth inning, when Longoria homered after old friend Nick Hundley led off with a single. Brandon Crawford hit a triple later in the inning, and Richard couldn’t quite strand him. A two-out single from Austin Jackson put the Giants on top. They got one more off Clayton when McCutchen led off the fifth with a solo shot.
The Friars got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fifth. A.J. Ellis led off the inning with a single, and Pirela hit his sixth double of the season to bring him home and narrow the gap to one run. Rookie Adam Cimber put himself in line for his first big league win by tossing two scoreless innings, keeping the Padres in the game after the seventh inning stretch.
Freddy Galvis started the seventh with a ground ball single up the middle, bringing Renfroe to the plate. After going yard for the first time this season in Denver, he was ready to prove he could do the same thing at home.
On a scale of 1 to @Hunter_Renfroe, how excited were you when you saw this 2-run homer? #LetsGoPadres pic.twitter.com/cKJSXXpQp4
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 15, 2018
The good guys managed to load the bases immediately after that, but couldn’t bring any more runs across the plate.
Phil Maton took the mound in the eighth and retired the first two batters he faced. But Longoria gave him trouble with a double to left, and Andy Green wasn’t taking any chances. He brought in Brad Hand for a four-out save. It worked. He struck out all four batters on just nineteen pitches for his sixth save of the year.
Joey Lucchesi will try to stay en fuego after picking up his first win in Colorado on Tuesday. He’ll be tossing the first pitch at 1:10 PM.