The Padres avoided a sweep in Toronto with an 8-4 victory in Wednesday’s getaway game.
Advertisement
Melvin Upton Jr., whom the Blue Jays acquired from San Diego earlier in the day, spoke to the Toronto media before the game and was in uniform. Second baseman Devon Travis was given a throwing error as he tried to get Bethancourt at third that allowed the Padres catcher to score for a 4-0 lead. The Padres acquired minor league right-handed pitcher Hansel Rodriguez. “I was going pretty good before the All-Star break and I’ve run into a little adversity here the last three outings”. Today the man to extend it was utility infielder Adam Rosales, who took Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey deep in the third inning to give San Diego a 2-0 lead.
The outfielder will be used primarily against left-handed pitching and goes from a non-contending team in the Padres (43-58) to a contending team in the Blue Jays (57-44). Upton played several seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.
“This is all where it started, in this division”, Upton said. “I definitely know the cities, and it’s a tough division. It’s definitely not uncomfortable, and I’m definitely looking forward to it”.
“I’m proud of the guys”, Gibbons said. He mostly kept the Padres in check for the first five innings, although many line drives happened to find Blue Jays fielders. The left-fielders fifth home run of the season scored Jankowski and Kemp ahead of him, suddenly giving the Padres a 4-3 lead.
In his first game in almost two years, Angels left-hander Tyler Skaggs scattered three hits over seven scoreless innings in a rout of the Royals, who have dropped 15 of their past 21 games. “We’ve just got to be able to string that together more often”.
The Padres owed Upton $16.45 million in 2017 but are on a run of unloading hefty contracts, a shift that began in the offseason when they traded closer Craig Kimbrel to the Boston Red Sox and included in-season deals involving right-hander James Shields and closer Drew Pomeranz.
Padres: RHP Luis Perdomo (4-4, 6.93 ERA) will make his first career appearance against Toronto.
Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg (13-1, 2.83) seeks a bounce back against Cleveland and right-hander Carlos Carrasco (7-3, 2.31) after suffering his first loss in his last start. Estrada is winless in four starts.
“Starting the game I felt like I had some of the best stuff I’ve had all year and then I run into a couple innings where it kind of got away from me for a minute”, Dickey said. He used only 72 pitches in the start and Josh Thole, his regular catcher, was slated to play Wednesday afternoon anyway in place of regular catcher Russell Martin who played all 12 innings Tuesday. After retiring the first eight batters he faced, reliever Jesse Chavez (1-2), the eventual victor, allowed a double to Wil Myers and a home run to Matt Kemp.
Advertisement
But the focus will be on Upton, who received a rousing ovation when he came to bat Tuesday.
