Padres 2, Yankees 1: Upton ends game with upper decker

Well, Melvin Upton, Jr. has been on fire this week. After tearing the leather off the ball with his 465-foot bomb on Tuesday, he took the first pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning and hammered it to the second deck of the Western Metal Building. Tonight's blast was his third walk-off homer of the season.

The Bossman won the game, but Drew Pomeranz is responsible for keeping them in the game. The Padre’s ace went seven innings, allowing just one run on five hits while striking out seven. Pom was backed up by Ryan Buchter, who allowed one hit in the eighth, and Brad Hand, who picked up the win after tossing a perfect ninth.

The game was a pitchers’ duel through and through, with neither team scoring until the sixth. Jacoby Ellsbury led off the inning with a double into the right field gap. Brett Gardner laid down a bunt that turned into a single and put Yankees on the corners. A ground out to second scored Gardner, but Pomeranz got a grounder and a K after that to limit the damage.

The bottom half of the inning got off to a good start, with Travis Jankowski legging out a leadoff double. But after a review that took place on a geological time scale, he was called out. Wil Myers picked up the slack, drawing a walk and swiping second. That got Ivan Nova yanked in favor of Dellin Betances, who served up the perfect pitch for Matt Kemp to turn into a game-tying double.

The onetime World Series opponents stayed knotted until the bottom of the ninth inning. Melvin Upton, Jr. was not in the mood for extra innings. He took Andrew Miller’s first pitch of the inning and crushed it into the second deck of the Western Metal Building. It went 440 feet, which makes it his second longest homer… this week.

The Padres have their final home game before the All-Star break tomorrow, and they'll be trying to secure their first sweep of the season. Andrew Cashner will return from the DL for first pitch at 1:40 PM.