The Padres are rolling, and Ethan Salas finally got his moment.
San Diego has won seven straight, and the 20-year-old catching prospect checked off a major box last night at Oracle Park by collecting his first big-league hit. It wasn’t a bloop or a seeing-eye single, either. Salas ripped a triple off the wall in right field against the San Francisco Giants, then lost his helmet while racing around the bases.
“Like a breath of fresh air,” said Salas afterward in a piece written by Adrian Garro of MLB.com. “I’m happy to get the first out of the way.”
For a player who has looked overmatched at times since his late-season callup, the hit mattered. Salas had earned the promotion after a strong run at Double-A and Triple-A, but the jump has been a tough one so far - understandable for someone who is only 20. Still, the talent has always been obvious, and this was the kind of swing that showed why the organization is so high on him.
Giants outfielder Jung Hoo Lee tried to get to the ball, but Salas was already thinking extra bases as soon as he left the box.
“As soon as I hit it, I was just like, ‘get over his head, get over his head,’ every step, in my mind,” Salas said. “And then as soon as I saw it go down, I just put my head down.”
The triple also put Salas in some rare company. Garro reported that he became the youngest player in Padres history to hit a triple, and the youngest MLB player to triple as a catcher since Ricky Seilheimer of the White Sox on July 25, 1980, when Seilheimer was 19 years, 330 days old.
There was another wrinkle, too: Salas is the youngest player to record his first hit since Machado did it, which sparked some back-and-forth between the two.
“Really? Oh, I didn’t even know that,” Machado said when the youth aspect was mentioned as a parallel.
“I thought I was just talking [crap], but I wasn’t, I guess. It’s hard to get to the big leagues when you’re 20, and it’s hard to get a triple.
I don’t have many triples.”
For Salas, the milestone came in the middle of meaningful games, which only made it better.
“It's really cool because the baseball we're playing matters,” emphasized Salas. “It’s always fun to play important baseball at this time of year, and it's the best time of year to be here.”
In Other News...
Mason Miller Scare Leaves Padres Facing A Late-Season Bullpen Concern
Mason Miller gave the Padres a brief scare Tuesday night when a 101-mph ground ball smacked into his right calf during the game against the Rockies, a moment that looked far more ominous than the end result. He stayed in the game, finished a scoreless inning and picked up his 37th save, while keeping his usual velocity intact and later saying he did not have any significant concern about the injury.
Still, even a scare that passes quickly can linger for a club trying to hold its position with 12 games left in the regular season. San Diegos bullpen has been a key part of its push in the National League wild-card race, and any late-season issue involving Miller would be worth watching closely, especially with every out carrying more weight from here on out. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Just Made A Deep Farm System Cut Fans Will Notice
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Jose Blanco, Aneury Sosa, Gensy Aquino, Daniel Burciaga, Dioscaride Sarit, Luis Morales and Raudi Perez were among the arms moved out, leaving Hernandez as the only infielder in the batch. It is the kind of deep-farm adjustment that usually says as much about the organizations evaluation of its lower-level inventory as it does about any one player, and it leaves a few open questions about how San Diego wants to reshape that part of the system going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Keep Winning But This Streak Still Comes With A Warning
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Casey Mize earned the win after five innings, and Mason Miller closed it out for the save, but the one-run margin also served as a reminder that even a hot stretch can still feel a little uneasy. San Diego has found ways to keep winning, yet this latest victory carried the kind of late-game stress that shows how thin the line can be when the margin for error disappears. [Read more 🡒]