Padres 2, Phillies 1: Jhoulys Chacin outduels Aaron Nola

Today, Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin took on the Phillies’ young Aaron Nola. The Friars didn’t fare well against the right hander, scoring just two runs on four hits and a pair of walks while whiffing nine times. That’s eight pretty impressive innings for a pitcher who isn’t even 25, and on most days it would have gotten him a win. But Chacin had the edge today, going six innings and change while keeping the Phils to a lone run on three hits and two walks.

The sole run for Philadelphia came in the fifth inning, when Chacin hung a slider right in the middle of the zone. Maikel Franco had no trouble sending it out of the park for his thirteenth bomb of the year. The way the Padres were hitting this afternoon, that could have been an unsurmountable lead.

But Hunter Renfroe got things going in the top of the seventh. Nola retired the next two batters to bring up Carlos Asuaje, who was tired of trailing. He nailed fastball inside and it hit the center field wall about six inches from the top. So instead of getting his first big league homer, Asuaje instead notched his first career triple.

Austin Hedges followed that up with a single into right field to plate the go-ahead run, and the bullpen mopped up to secure a series win and set Trevor Cahill up for a sweep tomorrow.

Get ready for some breakfast baseball, as first pitch is scheduled for 10:35 PM.