The good times keep on rolling for the San Diego Padres. They extended their winning streak to six games following a 6-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles in Friday’s meeting at Oriole Park.
Coming off the adrenaline rush of Dylan Cease’s no-hitter and being on the longest winning streak of the year, things couldn’t get better for the Padres (56-50). That’s until Jurickson Profar entered the batter's box.
The team leader in batting average, hits, home runs and RBIs once again delivered in the clutch. The all-star outfielder connected on a pair of two-run homers (18,19), one in the sixth inning following a Luis Arraez single and the second coming in the ninth inning against Orioles closer Craig Krimbrel.
“My mindset is to always hit a line drive and let the ball do whatever it want to do,” Profar said.
Profar has hit four home runs, seven RBIs and has a batting average of at least .299 or higher in the last four games.
The Padres went into Friday’s game knowing that they needed an all hands on deck effort from the pitching department, selecting Adam Mazur (1-3, 7.49 ERA) as the starter.
Mazur went 2.2 innings allowing only one run on two hits, two walks and one strikeout.
Manager Mike Shildt turned to his bullpen on six different occasions after replacing Muzar. The managing of the bullpen ended up paying off as San Diego gave up only three runs, six hits and two walks.
However, the Padres turned to closer Robert Suarez early in the eighth inning after a lead off home run by Anthony Santander, followed by two hits by Ryan O’Hearn and Heston Kjerstad, which gave the Orioles a golden opportunity to jump in front.
“We have a great bullpen… in that inning when (Adrian) Morejon came in, he gave up two (runs), but we needed to pick him up and luckily I was the guy to pick him up,” Profar said.
The reason Shildt was able to unload the bullpen was because of Dylan Cease’s no-no.
“We gotta start with Dylan Cease’s residual effect from his (complete) game that allowed us to do what we were able to do today,” Shildt said. “We don’t expect no-hitters or complete games, but his ability to get a complete game completely set us up for today.”
Second baseman Xander Bogaerts had a sneaky outstanding performance, going three for four with two singles, including an RBI double to left field which scored Manny Machado due to a drop by Kjerstad before running into the outfield wall in a four-run sixth.
Baltimore native Jackson Merrill went two for four in his homecoming. With 500 family and friends in attendance, Merrill cashed in with an RBI double, scoring the final run in the Padres sixth inning.
Orioles starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez pitched five innings, allowing two runs on seven hits with two strikeouts.
The Padres are 1.5 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the last wildcard spot in the National League playoff picture and are 6.5 games back from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.
At 1:05 p.m. on Saturday Michael King (8-6, 3.28 ERA) will take the mound for the Padres, while Dean Kremer (4-6, 4.43 ERA) will get the starting nod for the Orioles.