Padres Round-Up 07/23/2020

Good morning, Padres fans! The Padres ended their exhibition play with a win over the Angels last night, 5-4 in Anaheim. The Padres scored all their runs in the 3rd inning, roughing up Angels starter LHP Patrick Sandoval.

Ty France, batting as the team’s DH, got things going in the 3rd with a leadoff single. Trent Grisham followed and worked a walk, then things got fun. C Austin Hedges dropped a bunt single down the 3rd baseline, which Sandoval then misplayed. France came around to score, Grisham moved to 3B, and Hedges advanced to 2B on the error. Fernando Tatis then legged out an infield single (though initially called out, replays showed FTJ beat the throw to 1B) scoring another run. Manny Machado, and Tommy Pham also followed up with back to back singles to score two more runs. 1B Eric Hosmer then hit a sac fly to score the 5th run of the inning, which proved the difference. Check out the batting highlights below:

On the pitching side, if last night was the deciding factor between who won the 5th spot in the rotation, LHP Joey Lucchesi or RHP Cal Quantrill, then it was Quantrill coming away with the stronger last impression. Lucchesi struggled with his control, needing 68 pitches to get through 3 innings before having his 1st pitch of the 4th smacked over the fence by Andrelton Simmons. Lucchesi finished the 4th, throwing 79 pitches (49 for strikes) while allowing three runs on six hits and two BBs while K-ing five. Quantrill, meanwhile, came in to pitch the 5th, and finished well despite an initial rough start. Quantrill gave up three singles and allowed a run before getting Taylor Ward to ground into a double play, and then K-ing Jason Castro to escape the inning. Quantrill then locked it down the next two innings, adding two more Ks to his night. He finished with three IP, throwing 49 pitches (32 for strikes) while giving up five hits and allowing one run while K-ing five total.

The team also flashed some solid leather. 3B Manny Machado made a difficult play in the 1st inning look waaaaaaayyyyy too easy, snagging a trailing grounder down the line to throw out David Fletcher at 1B.

CF Trent Grisham also helped bail out Lucchesi in the 3rd inning, making a diving catch for the 3rd out, preventing two runs from scoring.

Grisham also rebounded nicely at the plate last night, going 2-2 in addition to the walk.

All in all, a good night for the good guys!

With that, let’s take a look at some of the other news and notes from yesterday.

• RF Wil Myers started last night, his first time in the field in a game situation in more than a week due to the Padres being cautious after he suffered a thigh bruise. “He has felt fairly well,” Manager Jayce Tingler said. “Our trainers, myself, we probably held him back just a tick in running him up to full speed. It’s been more precaution than anything, but I think tonight we’re going to be looking (for him) to play right field. He should be very close to full speed, which is what we’re hoping to get for Friday.” Myers went 1-for-3 at the plate and played five innings in the field.
• Tingler also said OF/1B Josh Naylor “checked out all right” after rolling his ankle getting out of the batter’s box on a grounder to shortstop in the 8th inning.
• AJ Cassavell makes his predictions for the 2020 Padres “season.” In Cassavell’s mind, the team needs its infield, headlined by SS Fernando Tatis and 3B Manny Machado to thrive this year, as well as new LF Tommy Pham, to thrive at the plate. Specifically, the team needs to get on-base more often; the team spent five straight seasons ranked 30th in the league in OBP before finishing 25th in 2019. To hammer that point home, Manager Jayce Tingler has often run workouts while wearing a “.388 club” T-shirt, the career on-base percentage of Padres icon Tony Gwynn. Those shirts were also distributed to Minor Leaguers who hit that mark over a calendar month, further evidence of the organization’s commitment to reaching base at a higher clip (might need to get me that shirt...).
• The Padres have until 0900 Thursday morning to set their initial roster. Teams will play with 30-man rosters the first 14 days of the season, 28-man rosters for the next 14, and then 26 players for the duration.

That’s it for today! Go Padres!