Tweet
Small things count. Details matter. The 2023 Padres were not very good at doing the small things like moving runners up or working deep counts, and it kept them out of the playoffs last year. All throughout spring training, though, new manager Mike Shildt said the 2024 Padres were going to be better with the little stuff. Darnit if he wasn’t right. The Padres came from behind twice to beat the Giants 6-4 on Opening Day at Petco Park, and they did it with small ball. The Friars had nine hits and eight of them were singles. Oh, and their pitching staff is pretty good, too. Yu Darvish got the start and had all his good strikeout stuff working. He punched out four of the first six hitters he faced before running into trouble in the thrd inning. Michael Conforto led off with a double and scored when Nick Ahmed snuck a double down the third-base line to put the Giants up 1-0. That was the only run Darvish allowed in 5.0 innings of work. Your San Diego Padres 16 hours ago 23 hours ago Mar 27 San Francisco started a guy who’s going to be in the Cy Young conversation. Logan Webb retired the first nine Padres in order but finally got into trouble when he walked Manny Machado to lead off the fifth inning. Ha-Seong Kim and Jurickson Profar followed with singles to bring home Manny and tie it 1-1. Another single from Luis Campusano loaded the bases, then Tyler Wade hit a dribbler up the first-base line to bring home Kim and put the Padres on top 2-1. The Giants took the lead back with a pair of runs off Johny Brito in the top of the seventh inning, making it 3-2. Then manager Bob Melvin went to his bullpen and things went sideways for San Francisco. Luke Jackson gave up singles to Campusano and Wade, then we saw some more of those little things. Wade took off for second base. Giants catcher Patrick Bailey’s throw was low and got away from Ahmed at second base, allowing Campusano to score the tying run and touch off a rally. Rookie Jackson Merrill worked a walk to chase Jackson and bring on Ryan Walker, who was not much better. Xander Bogaerts singled to left field to score Wade and put the Friars on top 4-3. A couple of batters later, Jake Cronenworth put it to bed. Jake continued the hot start he had in Korea with a line drive double down the right field line. Merrill and Bogaerts scored to make it 6-3 and the Friars bullpen took it from there. Yuki Matsui was flawless over 1.3 innings, and Robert Suarez, though he gave up a solo homer to Conforto, got his second save of the year. The Padres improve to 2-1 on the season and get to throw Joe Musgrove in Game 2 against the Giants on Friday night at Petco Park. LISTEN: With NBC 7 San Diego’s Darnay Tripp and Derek Togerson behind the mic, will cover all things San Diego Padres. Interviews, analysis, behind-the-scenes…the ups, downs, and everything in between.
More...
More...