The San Diego Padres had no business winning Saturday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins. Starter Casey Mize exited in the third inning after twisting his ankle on the dugout steps. Before departing he had already surrendered four runs, three of them coming via the long ball. Minnesota starter Dean Kremer limited the Padres to just two runs and dominated through five innings.
But then, it happened. The Friars flipped the script in the seventh inning, scoring four runs against reliever Andrew Morris. It was a resurgent night for the San Diego offense in many ways. Jackson Merrill, after struggling immensely in his last few games, knocked in the first Padres run with a second-inning homer. He ended the night 2-for-3 with a walk. It was an all-around effort from the club that will allow San Diego to go for the sweep in today’s finale.
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Taking the mound
Bailey Ober (MIN) v. Walker Buehler (SD)
Ober has looked a bit worse for wear this season. The righty sports a 4.62 ERA through 103 1/3 innings pitched. Beyond that, the strikeout numbers are down. Ober has struck out just 71 batters in that time, alongside an abnormally high 1.25 WHIP. The lower strikeout numbers and increased traffic on the bases hasn’t been a good combination.
The Twins’ right-hander has been pretty consistent in his mediocrity throughout the year. Ober owns an ERA over 4.00 in his last seven, 15 and 30 games. His last start was decent, with the righty pitching 4 1/3 innings of two-run ball. That said, if San Diego is hitting like they have been, it’ll be hard for Ober to keep them down long.
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On the other side of the mound, Buehler has surged back from his troubling July, again becoming one of the most reliable arms in the San Diego rotation. He’s given up two runs or less in five of his last six starts. In the start he gave up more than two runs he surrendered just three.
The problem has been his innings. Buehler has only worked six innings twice in that same stretch of time. Across those six appearances, the righty has thrown 31 1/3 innings. That comes out to an average of 5 1/3 innings in each appearance. That’s not nothing, but it’s certainly not what the Friars are hoping for. If he can work deep against the Twins, it would be a massive sigh of relief for the Padres’ bullpen.
Batter up!
The offense was potent on Saturday night, tagging Minnesota’s pitching staff for seven runs in the eventual victory. All but one came in the sixth inning or later. Kremer was able to silence the Friars for some time, but the Padres were able to get to the Minnesota ‘pen rather easily. Hopefully they’ll be able to put together a similar performance tonight.
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Of the 10 Padres batters that stepped up to the plate Saturday night, eight reached base at least once. The lineup combined to go 10-for-35 with three walks in a beautiful display of what this club is capable of. If they keep this up into October, the Friars will have no problem getting exactly where they want to go.
Relief corps
With Mize’s early (and unfortunate) exit, the bullpen was deployed rather unorthodoxly. Kyle Hart and Griffin Canning covered 4 1/3 innings, getting the Padres into the seventh. Once they took the lead, Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller quickly slammed the door on the Twins.
That will somewhat deplete the ‘pen for the series finale. Jeremiah Estrada, Yuki Matsui, Wandy Peralta and Bradgley Rodriguez will all be available once Buehler departs. That said, San Diego will hope for the starter to work a little deeper in order to save the relief corps for the upcoming series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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