The Padres played a great game on Father’s Day for eight innings. In fact, for eight frames today the Pads outplayed the Diamondbacks 2-0. The problem, as you know, is that baseball is a nine inning game and it was that one inning, in this case the 2nd, that the Pads lost this contest when they allowed 7 runs to cross and ultimately lost the game 7-2, as well as the series.
Cashner got through the first inning 1-2-3 with two strikeouts, but honestly the signs of trouble were visible as he was not really hitting his spots. He got outs thanks to some vicious movement on his 96 MPH fastball, but it was not because of his location. Often times that will eventually catch up with you if you don’t find the command, and indeed it did in that 2nd inning.
After retiring the first batter of the second frame on strikes Cashner walked the next batter. That was followed by a single opposite field on a pitch out over. Next batter, walk – bases loaded. So Cash pitched himself into a predicament but with the 8th and pitcher’s spot in the lineup coming up next there was still plenty of opportunity to work out of it.
8th batter hits a routine ground ball to Middlebrooks at third, but his thumb gets caught in his jersey preventing him from starting the 5-4-3 double play as planned. Instead he opts to go home for the force out, but rushed the throw sending it up the first base line forcing Norris to attempt to reach out and catch it. He did snare the wide throw and did all he could to keep his left foot on the plate as he was stretched out, but the umpire ruled that his foot was pulled off the plate and the run scored on the E-5. The play was challenged by Pat Murphy, but upheld by the fellow umpires viewing in N.Y.
One run in, bases still loaded, one out, pitcher at the plate. Cash gets ahead of Hellickson, but then goes to a full count. On the 3-2 offering he hits him in the left hip. Fastball that got away from Cash and ran in too far to force in a run, and bring the top of the order to the plate. The lead off man, Pollock, singled to left to score two more and it was 4-0 AZ.
There was more for Cashner to endure though. The next batter hits a hard grounder to shortstop which looks like it can be the inning ending double play for the second time in the frame, but Barmes appeared to no quite get over to his right enough and instead it went through him for another error allowing another run to score and the inning to continue bringing the league’s best hitter by average, Goldschmidt, to the plate. With the infield pulled in his chopper up the middle got through bringing in two more runs to give (and I do mean “give”) the snakes a 7-0 lead. Game over.
Cash at least finished the inning and got through the fourth to prevent even further mop up innings to be shouldered by the bullpen. In fact he threw the ball pretty well his last two innings, as did Garces, Kelley, and Benoit who combined to retire the last 17 batters the D’Backs sent to the plate.
The offense scraped together a run in the 5th on Brett Wallace’s first hit as a Padre, a pinch-hit double that scored Venable who had doubled earlier. Another run was pushed across in the 6th on a single by Alonso, double by J. Upton, and a sac-fly by Kemp, but that was it for the Friar offense for the day.
The fellas get a needed day off in San Francisco before starting a three game set agains the Giants. Despaigne will go to the bump for the Pads in game one, with the first pitch being tossed at 7:15. Hope all you dads out there enjoyed your Fathers Day, and look forward to bringing you the action Tuesday along with Uncle Teddy on the Mighty 1090.
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