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On June 9th the Padres laced up to take on the Washington Nationals in a last-ditch effort to split the 4-game series. Unfortunately, the summer sun was not enough inspiration to get the Friars swinging, as they lose another game and drop to .500 on the season. Aside from the beautiful San Diego weather, there was not much to be excited about in the final game of the 4-game series. In fact, most of the game felt like we were watching paint dry, until the top of the 8th when the Nationals decided to take Craig Stammen for back to back to back to back home runs. Yes, you read that right. 4 homers in a row gave the Nationals a 5-1 lead in the 8th.
As we rolled into Matt Strahm’s spot in the rotation, Andy Green elected to give the day to the bullpen. We saw 5 different Padres take the hill today, and minus the 1 unearned run given up in the first inning, we were pleasantly surprised with the pitching performance. Until Craig Stammen took over in the top of the 8th, for what must have felt like an eternity for him. Stammen threw 23 pitches giving up 5 hits and 4 runs only retiring 2 batters. After getting Yan Gomes to ground out to the third baseman, Greg Garcia. It all went downhill for Stammen, giving up 4 consecutive home runs. With the crowd yelling at Andy Green to get Stammen out of the game, Green had also seen enough. In a post-game interview, Andy Green said “that’s going to be one of the harder days he goes through, but if anyone’s tough enough to walk right back out there next time on the mound and punch three guys out it’s him… He’s as resilient as anybody” referring to Stammen’s performance.
Manny Machado got the day off today, and his presence at the plate was sorely missed. The Padres struggled to get anything going on offensively, recording 2 runs on 7 hits all afternoon. The Padres will look to brush this series off as they head up the coast for a rest day before taking on the San Francisco Giants and kick off their 6-game road trip.
Final 5-2 Nationals