Padres 7, Brewers 5: Big bats force a rubber match

The Padres did not have a lot of hits today, going just 9-for-42 in 11 innings. But they made those hits count, with over half of them going over the fences at Miller Park. Just like they did yesterday, the Brewers fought back with bombs of their own, but the Padres walked away victors in this afternoon’s extra innings contest. Yangervis Solarte stole the show, driving in three runs with two long balls.

Solarte’s first shot came in the second, when he skipped home after taking Chase Anderson deep. That lead was brief, as Milwaukee hung a crooked number on Dinelson Lamet in the third. Orlando Arcia hit a ball into the right center corner that took an unfortunate carom, giving the speedy Arcia plenty of time to turn it into an inside-the-park homer. Later in the inning, Eric Thames hit his twentieth dang dinger of the season with Eric Sogard on base to put the Brew Crew up by two.

The Friars battled back to tie the game over the next three innings. Franchy Cordero led off the fourth with a single, and Hunter Renfroe made sure it wasn’t in vain with his two-out RBI double. Then in the sixth, Wil Myers tied it up with a single swing.

The game stayed knotted at 3-3 until the tenth inning. With two out, Myers drew a walk and then swiped second. He didn’t need to steal that base, because Solarte was about to take a round trip that put the good guys up by two. Brandon Maurer, unfortunately, wasn’t ready to pick up his W and go home. He started the bottom of the inning by beaning Nick Franklin before serving a meatball right in the center of the zone to Keon Broxton. It could have gotten worse, but Jose Torres managed to get the boys out of the inning and into the eleventh.

Cory Spangenberg had no interest in prolonging the game any longer. He took the first pitch of the inning and absolutely destroyed it, sending it into the upper deck for what ended up being the winning run.

With two outs, Chase d’Arnaud followed up with yet another solo shot to give the already taxed bullpen a little breathing room. Jose Torres came back for one out in the bottom half of the eleventh, and then Phil Maton took the hill for the final two outs. He punched out two in a row, maintaining his 0.00 ERA and notching his very first big league save.

We’ve got morning baseball for tomorrow’s rubber match, with first pitch at 11:10 PM.