SAN DIEGO – The margins have been small for the majority of the San Diego Padres season, and once again the All Star-studded bullpen helped see out a win, 4-2 over the Philadelphia Philles on Friday night at Petco Park.
Jason Adam, making his Majors-leading 47th appearance of the season, was able to escape a bases-loaded jam with one out in the eighth inning, shoveling a short bouncer home for a force out and inducing a pop out. Robert Suarez closed it out to extend his MLB lead with his 28th save.
San Diego (51-43) grinded to create chances against Philadelphia (54-40) starter Ranger Suárez, taking advantage of an early opportunity. Manny Machado added a solo home run, his third depth charge in the last six games, off reliever Max Lazar in the eighth for the final margin.
It was the 52nd game the Padres have played within one or two runs, with the team improving to 33-19 in those circumstances. That game circumstance meant that the bullpen needed appearances from all three of the unit’s All Star selections — Adrian Morejon was named to the NL squad earlier in the day, replacing Philadelphia starter Zach Wheeler.
Yuki Matsui got the final out of the fifth after replacing starter Ryan Bergert, inducing a groundout by Bryce Harper after he walked Kyle Schwarber to load the bases. Jeremiah Estrada earned his third win of the season in a clean sixth with a strikeout, while Morejon retired all three he faced including two by K.
The Padres scored the first three of their runs in the second after the Phillies took the lead in the top of the inning on a Nick Castellanos’solo home run.
Xander Bogaerts led off with a single, then Jackson Merrill dropped down a perfect bunt that forced the lefty Suárez to field with the throw going into Merrill’s leg to reach on a sacrifice and an error. Jose Iglesias followed up with a double to right to score Bogaerts, Díaz brought Merril home on a ground out and Iglesias scored on a liner to center by Fernando Tatis Jr.
San Diego’s pair of All Star position players appear to be heating up in tandem for the first time since the first two months of the season. Since June 28, Machado is 14-for-52 with two doubles, four home runs, eight RBIs and five walks while Tatis is 15-for-48 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, five RBIs and 11 walks
Kyle Schwarber didn’t miss on a four-seam fastball that stayed over the middle of the plate, crushing a two-out solo home run to right field for his second long ball against the Padres. With 30 home runs on the season, he joined Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt as the only Phillies players to hit 30 out of the park before the All Star break.
Other than the two mistakes, Bergert was solid in his return start after being reinstated from the 15-day IL. He allowed only one additional hit, with seven strikeouts and two walks before being lifted after 4 ⅔ innings to avoid seeing Schwarber for a third time.
Game two of the series will see the Padres start Yu Darvish (0-1, 4.91 ERA) against the Phillies’ Wheeler (9-3, 2.17 ERA), with first pitch scheduled for 4:35 p.m. The game will be a national television broadcast on FOX.