Padres 2, Nationals 1: Padres win. Happy birthday, Tony.

Who would have thought that some good ol’ fashioned runs would get the Padres a win. The Pads were able to avoid the sweep with some dominate pitching and just the right amount of run support.

Joey Lucchesi was on it today. Over 5 innings he kept the Nationals to 1 earned run, a solo HR in the top of the 4th, and struck out 6. Through the first 3 innings, Lucchesi retired the first 2 batters immediately. By the end of his start, the Nationals had only 6 hits and not much to show for it. A bullpen of Craig Stammen, Kirby Yates, and Brad Hand shut Washington up for the rest of the night, each striking out a pair.

The Padres eventually took the lead first thanks to a Manuel Margot RBI-double in the bottom of the 4th, scoring A.J. Ellis after Ellis bopped a ground-rule double.

Then, thanks to the go-ahead smacked RBI-double from Matt Szczur:

And thus, 2 is more than 1. The Padres win just their 14th game of the season and avoid the sweep from the visiting Nationals. They did it on some opportune contact hits, a team total of 8 hits, something that wouldn’t disappoint #19.