The Padres finally put together the kind of night they’ve been waiting for, and it showed up in a 10-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that gave San Diego a 2-1 lead in the pivotal four-game series.
Arizona struck first when Gabriel Moreno lined an RBI double, but that was about as good as it got for the Diamondbacks. Michael King settled in after that and gave San Diego exactly what it needed: six efficient innings, six hits allowed, two walks and four strikeouts while holding Arizona to that lone run.
Once King handed it over, the Padres’ lineup took control. San Diego scored in the third and fourth innings, then kept piling on until the game was all but finished by the end of the sixth, when the Padres had built an 8-1 cushion.
It was the kind of night where the damage came from everywhere. Luis Campusano launched a solo homer, and RBI hits came from Miguel Andujar, Xander Bogariers, Sung-Mun Song, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill.
That was the version of the offense San Diego had in mind when the season began, and manager Craig Stammen made sure to note it.
“Nice to get the lead and add on,” said Stammen in a piece written by AJ Cassavell of MLB.com, and Tatis called it “good baseball all the way around” as he reached base three times.
King, though, was just as candid about where things stand for him. The right-hander said the season has been a battle, and he’s still looking for the stretch of dominant outings that has yet to arrive.
“[It’s been] a grind,” King said. “I don’t know if there was a single game where I felt like I had everything.
So hopefully they come in bunches in the second half. There were some decent results in games where I felt like I didn’t have anything.
But ultimately it’s got to be a lot better second half.”
Even with the lopsided win, the bigger job isn’t done. San Diego still needs another victory to lock up the series, and getting back to .500 has been a slog. The Padres will try to finish the job tonight with Griffin Canning on the mound against Merrill Kelly.
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For a team that has already shown a willingness to move high-profile names to keep competing while managing costs, the idea of revisiting another massive contract is hardly trivial. Any path forward would be complicated, since a trade would almost certainly require San Diego to take on a hefty share of the money still owed, leaving the Padres to weigh flexibility against the risk of giving up on a player they once viewed as a core piece. [Read more 🡒]
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Padres Fans Know This AJ Preller Habit Never Really Goes Away
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What makes the pattern stand out is how often it has repeated, and how little it seems to depend on the stage of the franchise at the moment. Whether the Padres were chasing a star, reshaping the bullpen, or trying to patch a roster need, Preller has never seemed especially attached to the idea of holding first-round picks just for the sake of it. For fans, the familiar question is not whether he will move another one, but which prospect becomes the next name to disappear from the organizational ledger. [Read more 🡒]