Austin Hedges Saves The Day In Late Night Nail-Biter

On June 7th the padres take an exciting win against the Washington Nationals.

Talk about a roller coaster ride of emotions for Padres fans. For the starting lineup the Padres gave the mound to Nick Margevicius who threw a stellar first 3.2 innings. Andy Green dipped into our bullpen once again, looking for a fresh arm to take over and keep the Nationals on their heels. Miguel Diaz took over for two innings and was eventually relieved by Robbie Erlin, who only faced one batter and finished out the top of the 6^th. After six great innings from the pitching staff, and a stand out performance offensively by Tatis Jr., the roller coaster began to leave the station. In the 7^th, Matt Wisler took the hill, giving up 4 hits and 3 runs, allowing the Padres lead to slip away. Tied at 3, we saw Adam Warren, the fifth Padre pitcher of the night come in and make quick work of the eighth inning. Unfortunately, in the top of the 9^th Warren lost control of the reigns, giving up a leadoff double, sacrifice bunt moving the runner to third and hitting the next batter. Warren gave up the game leading run off a wild pitch. Just as things started to look bleak for the Padres, youngster Josh Naylor guns out Gerardo Parra while trying to tag on a deep fly ball to left field. Ending the top of the 9^th with a much-needed double play.

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Down by one, the Padres rolled into the bottom of the 9^th with the heart of the order on deck. First up, with the crowd on their feet, was Manny Machado, who struck out on a foul tip knocking the wind out of the fans sail. Next up, Eric Hosmer drives the first pitch he sees to the center field wall and with some aggressive base running, finds himself diving head first into third. Giving the crowd some hope, Franmil Reyes steps to the plate. The San Diego power hitter tried to do too much and struck out swinging for the fences. The usually composed Reyes broke his bat on the ground while walking back to the dugout. With two outs, Josh Naylor was up to bat. In dramatic fashion, the rising star roped a ground ball out to center field bringing Eric Hosmer across the plate to tie the score 4-4. With everything pointing toward extra innings, the Padres coaching staff took a chance and gave Josh Naylor the sign to steal second. Now with a runner in scoring position, Austin Hedges carries the weight of the game on his shoulders. Turning that pressure into motivation, Hedges hit a line drive to left fielder Juan Soto. Soto fielded the ball cleanly but was unable to make an accurate throw to the plate in time, allowing Naylor to dive across home for the winning run. The crowd erupts as the dugout cleared and the walk off celebration began. With fireworks in the sky and Austin Hedges in our heart, the Padres take another win.

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Overwhelmed with emotion and soaked in Gatorade, Hedges in a post-game interview said, “We’re resilient… We love this team; we love this city.”

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Final score: Padres 5-4