Offense Picks Up Slack For Shaky Pitching

Two veteran pitchers faced each other on the mound in yesterday's matchup between our Padres and the Indians. Both of them failed to limit the damage in their outings. Edinson Volquez made the start for San Diego and surrendered six runs in the first inning, including a three-run bomb to non-roster invite Ryan Raburn (his fourth homer and seventh through ninth RBI of the Spring). Volquez pitched a shutout second inning, but it couldn't erase the damage.

Thankfully, our offense did some work in the 3rd against Cleveland starter Ubaldo Jimenez. Logan Forsythe led off the inning with a triple, followed by a walk to Will Venable. Then Mark Kotsay, Jesus Guzman, and Kyle Blanks hit consecutive singles to put two runs on the board and chase Jimenez off the mound. Edward Paredes immediately gave up two more singles, to Cody Ransom and Alexi Amarista, resulting in two more Padres runs, before finally recording the first out. Jaff Decker hit an RBI groundout and then Forsythe followed with his second triple of the inning to put our Padres on top 7-6.

Ransom increased the lead by a run in the 4th when he hit his second RBI single, but the Indians tied it up in the bottom of the inning when Robbie Erlin gave up an RBI sac fly to Jason Kipnis and RBI single to Nick Swisher.

Amarista got San Diego back in the lead with his own RBI sac fly in the 6th, and Jaff Decker added on with an RBI single. Gregorio Petit got an insurance run in the 8th with a leadoff homer off Scott Barnes, but the Padres didn't need it as the Indians were shut out for the remainder of the game.

The two teams combined for 30 hits on the day. Kotsay, Ransom, and Swisher each went 3-for-3. Starters Volquez and Jimenez were tagged for six and five earned runs, respectively. The victory puts us back at .500 (5-5) in Spring Training.