Padres fumble lead in 7-6 loss to Giants

The Padres quest for a 5-1 start to begin the 2020 MLB season was this close, but it wasn’t in the cards as they fumbled a four-run lead to lose 7-6 on Wednesday night thanks to CF Mike Yastrzemski’s walk-off hime run.

The Giants were once again the first to get on the board thanks to a triple by LF Alex Dickerson to lead off the bottom of the second and a single by 3B Donovan Solano that brought Dickerson home.

That lead only last a half inning until 3B Manny Machado blasted his second home run the season - a two-run shot - to give the Padres the lead at 2-1.

In rapid retaliation. the Giants tied things up on the other side of the inning with a the first of two solo home runs by Yastrzemski.

At the top of the fourth, with an even score of 2-2, RF Myers, who normally has great luck at Oracle Park, was hit by a pitch to get a body on base early on. After Myers successfully stole second, LF Edward Olivares hit a single to push the lead back to one with Myers coming home.

The Padres were finally able to give themselves some breathing room after Grisham went yard for the second time this season. It was a three-run strike that carried both Olivares and SS Fernando Tatis Jr. around the horn.

The Giants stayed pesky, as Dickerson topped his early triple with a solo home run off of RHP David Bednar’s first pitch of the night. It also happened to be Bednar’s first appearance this season so, you know, he could only go up from there! With a 6-3 lead, the Padres knew they needed to try and put this one to bed sooner rather than later.

After a little over an inning of work for Bednar, San Diego brought out the recently-acquired Tim Hill to take over for the third time this season in the bottom of the seventh. He K’d his only batter faced to put a period on the inning.

Craig Stammen took the mound in the bottom of the eighth and unfortunately gave the lead up all in one go as he allowed the Giants’ Solano to send one out to deep left field for a three-run homer to tie it all up at 6-6. He would be pulled right after allowing another base hit with two outs remaining. Matt Strahm would take his place and finish the final two innings of the game and unfortunately securing the loss.

Starting pitcher Chris Paddack went to work for five innings, allowing six hits, two runs, and recordedd a 1.64 ERA. SF’s starter, Johnny Cueto, pitched just a little over three innings and allowed four hits, four runs, finishing with a 5.87 ERA.

The Padres will be right back to Oracle Park at 6:45 p.m. PT to finish their three-game series with the Giants.