SD 9: PHI 4: Friars aggressively avoid the sweep

It was going to happen eventually. The Padres came full force in today's Sunday matchup to avoid an ugly sweep at the hands of the Phillies. James Shields was on point, the bats were on point, the Dodgers got no-hit again, and the Friars can head back home on a win.

Shields brought the good stuff today. One of the few pitching performances for the Padres that went a full 7 innings. He only gave up a single run on a Cameron Rupp homer in the second. For the rest of the night he kept things on lock. He did it by striking out 8, only walking 1, and controlling the damage of 6 hits over the course of the game. Odrisamer Despaigne played relief, but allowed three more runs to slip through in his two-inning performance. That didn't matter much, though, because the bats were on fiyah.

Every starter had a hit today. Derek Norris, Yonder Alonso, Jedd Gyorko, and pinch-hitting Clint Barmes all had multi-hit nights. Heck, even Shields got in on the action with an RBI-single. Matt Kemp hit his 16th home run, a 2-run shot into left in the top of the first. Justin Upton notched his 24th on a solo shot in the third. Yangervis Solarte blasted his 11th into right-center field.

Then Shields, Barmes, Brett Wallace, Norris, and Melvin Upton all hit RBI-singles each. A combination of 16 hits for 9 runs, scoring in 6 innings. Can we have some more of that for the rest of the season, please?