Padres vs. White Sox Series Recap 6-1-14

Rivera was one of 9 strike out victims to Sale in the series finale.

The Pads won their second road series of the season against the White Sox, who had been playing solid ball and won 9 of their previous 14.  Pitching ruled the day in all 3 games, but the Padre did a lot of little things well on all sides of the ball to take 2 of 3 for the SouthSiders.  Here’s how the series played out in the Pads favor:

• GAME #1 – Kennedy vs. Danks. Maybin gave the Pads the lead in the 3rd with a solo HR.  Kennedy was throwing ok through the first three, not great command of the off speed but enough of the fastball to keep the Sox off the board.  Then in the 4th the breaking ball command left him completely leaving him totally exposed, and although he walked 2 the only run scored on a wild pitch that was set up by a Maybin mental mistake when he forgot how many out here were allowing the runner who would eventually score to reach 3rd. Bottom line was Kennedy could have been in worse trouble but battled and only allowed the 1 to score to tie the game.  The Friars took the lead again the next inning thanks to Rivera’s RBI-2B, and at that point Ian got locked.  The curveball was back, and he ended up holding the lead and retiring the final 7 batter he faced, including 4 by strikeouts.  Interestingly he later told us on his Inside The Clubhouse interview the next day that Balsley told him to try to hang the curve in an effort to find the feel for it.  Seems counterintuitive, but leave it to the Padres heralded pitching coach to come up with something different to fix the problem, and he did. The bullpen took over in the 7th, which basically means turn out the lights, the party is over for the opposition as the Pads were 17-1 up to that point when leading after the 6th.   Vincent, Benoit, and Street came in and kept the tradition going with each throwing a scoreless frame.  Alonso added to the lead in the 8th with his 2-run HR, to make the final 4-1 Pads. Solid all around game by the Friars, another gutsy performance by Kennedy, and near perfect finish by the bullpen. 1-0 Pads.

• GAME #2 – Ross vs. Rienzo. For a second night in arrow the Pads gave their starter an early lead, this time with 2 runs in the 2^nd thanks to RBI 2B’s by Venable then Rivera. Ross did not appear to have great command of neither his fastball nor his slider early, but as Kennedy did the night before for several innings, he never gave in and came up with the clutch pitch when necessary to stay out of big trouble. He allowed a run the home half of the 2^nd, but Venable’s RBI 1b in the 3^rd again seet the Pads lead at two 3-1. Ross rolled ground ball double plays in the 2^nd and 3^rd to escape damage, and received some defensive help from Denorfia in the 5^th on a diving play that ended the inning and a scoring threat that did see 1 unearned run to score cutting the lead to 3-2. Again, however, the offense answered right back to keep the spread at two and keep the momentum on the side of the Friars, with Venable again getting involved this time with a 2B, and scoring on an Amarista sac-fly after reaching third on a Rivera sac-bunt. Leading 4-2, and having watched Ross throw his best inning of the night to close out the 6^th, Buddy again went to his bullpen with the Vincent, Benoit, Street triumvirate who again slammed the door on a 4-2 Padres victory, with Street getting his 17^th save.  Offensive hero of the day was Venable going 4-4 with 2-2B’s, 2-RBI, and 1-Run.  2-0 Padres already own the series.

• GAME #3 – Stults vs. Sale. Going for the sweep was going to be no easy feat with Sale on the mound for the Sox. Stults allowed a solo HR in the 2nd to Nonerko, but otherwise was holding the Sox in check through the first four innings.  Sale, however was overpowering the Pads offense.  He’s been one of the most effective left handers in baseball since moving to the rotation in 2012, and in this game he showed why.  Using an overpowering 93-95 MPH fastball to both sides of the plate, along with a wicked change up, and slider that he could manipulate against righties and lefties, he was absolutely dominating.  He retired the first 12 Pads he faced in order before Headley broke up the prefecto with a solo HR in the 5th to tie it 1-1.  The tie did not las long though as Flowers hit a wind aided HR to left to make it 2-1 Sox, and that would be all Sale would need. The Sox would add on 2 more in the 6th, to make it a 4-1 Sox lead, but it was unnecessary insurance as after allowing the Headley HR, and a 1B to Medica immediately after, he then retired the next 14 batters in a row to complete the 2-hit complete game. The Pads attempt at getting a Super Happy flight home back to San Diego was thwarted, but  Pads still took the series 2-1.

There were a lot of good things fundamentally that took place during this series along with the obvious winning record. While holding the ball, they saw solid pitching efforts from all three of their starters, lights out bullpen work, although not perfect some solid defense including Rivera throwing a couple of runners out, Denorfia’s diving play, and ground balls turned for two when needed.  Offensively they scored with the power game (3 HR’s), and manufactured a couple of bunts executing small ball when needed, and Venable and Alonso’s bats continue to heat up.

The Pads now come home to take on the Pirates.  The match ups are not known, other than Stauffer going Monday, but Tuesday we are likely to see a roster move to make room for the night’s starting pitcher.

• Game #1 (7:10 PDT) – Stauffer vs. Morton
• Game #2 (7:10 PDT) – TBA vs. Cole
• Game #3 (3:40 PDT) – Kennedy vs. Liriano

Hope you’ll join Ted Leitner and me for all the action on the Mighty 1090!

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