Padres win 4th straight with late-game heroics by Renfroe, Yates

Strahm looks strong

Once again, Matt Strahm looked like something more than a 5th starter for the San Diego Padres. Coming off an 8.0 inning start vs. the Reds where he only gave up 1 earned run, Strahm pitched 6 innings against the Washington Nationals and gave up 2 earned runs while striking out 8 (and walking zero). That’s back-to-back Quality Starts!

Strahm threw just 81 pitches in this one before getting the hook, following starts of 87, 89, and 87 pitches. We’ll see if San Diego works to stretch him out more as the season goes along.

Viva La France

Ty France, called up just before this road trip, got his first major league at-bat and turned it into his first major league hit!

France now has a batting average of 1.000. Ian Kinsler, who started at 2B, went 0-4 and now has a batting average of .147. My guess is that France gets his first start at 2B tomorrow.

Hosmer’s hot

Eric Hosmer has been crushing the ball lately, and seems to be elevating it as well. It’s probably too early to even wonder if he’s turning himself into a home run hitter, but that won’t stop us from enjoying looks at his recent home runs:

Renfroe saves the day

After Craig Stammen gave up the Padres’ 1-run lead in the 8th inning, it looked like the Padres might be starting their road trip with extra innings.

Enter, Hunter Renfroe...

With a 1-run lead in the 9th, Kirby Yates converted his 13th save opportunity of the season (after loading the bases with 2 outs), and the Padres look to take the series victory tomorrow at 1:05pm PT.