Padres 2, Twins 5: Pirela homers, Perdomo falters, Padres lose

The Friars donned their second best uniforms of all time and tackled the Twins for their second of a weird little two-game series before taking another day off and hitting the road. They won’t be exiting San Diego with a win, but they still looked good losing - more specifically Jose Pirela and the bullpen, and maybe Hunter Renfroe too.

Speaking of jerseys:

Now, on to the good part of the game

Despite not having a shot at doing the fun relief stuff, like holding onto a lead or earning a save, the bullpen was lights out yet again. Buddy Baumann, Craig Stammen, and Phil Maton (who I think have the most M’s and N’s of any bullpen) all pitched a shutout inning a piece.

Though the lineup was shut down to 4 hits by Ervin Santana, Manuel Margot and Cory Spangenberg would sneak in a hit. But it was only Jose Pirela’s 2-run home run in the 4th inning that would get anything done.

Deep into the 8th inning, and down by 3, Hunter Renfroe laid out smoothly like creamy peanut butter on the bread of right field and snagged a sinking hit from Miguel Sano, ending the inning and adding some green to his 90’s era pinstripes.

And then the bad part of the game

4 hits aint much from an offense when the opposing team is putting up four runs in a single inning. Wil Myers continued to skid with 2 strikeouts, and the rest of the lineup was disassembled by Santana grounding out 5 times, popping out 5 times, and striking out 9 times.

And of course, the ugly part of the game

Perdomo was tagged early, giving up 4 runs in an ugly second inning. Despite ending his 6 innings by only allowing one more run, he ended with only 4 strikeouts, gave up 7 hits, and gifted Sano his 25th home run.

Luis is now almost halfway to the amount of earned runs he gave up in all of July, having a similar struggle against Colorado on the 17th. This time around, a single, double, and intentional walk that would result in a 2-run RBI would be his undoing.

The Friars will rest tomorrow, cruise through gorgeous PNC Park, play a four-game series in not-so gorgeous Cincinnati, then finish their road trip in the even less flattering Dodger Stadium. They return home August 14th.