The Walk Off: San Diego is the only MLB team yet to score a run
Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.
The San Diego Padres look like they might never score another run after two games against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers to start the season.
Of course, the Padres are eventually going to get on the board here in 2016, but they go into the series finale with the Dodgers on Wednesday as the only team in the major leagues that still hasn’t scored a run.
San Diego has just six hits in its first two games and has been outscored 18-0, including Tuesday night’s 3-0 loss. Jon Jay is the only San Diego player to hit safely in the first two games, but he had trouble in the field Tuesday.
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No need to panic too much, Padres fans. It’s a long season and there will certainly be better days ahead. Some of it is obviously a product of having to face one of the best pitchers on the planet in Clayton Kershaw in the opener, but Scott Kazmir followed up with a solid outing as well in his first start of the season.
The Padres’ inability to push a run across against Kazmir is certainly more concerning than being dominated by Kershaw. After all, Kazmir doesn’t have the same stuff he used to and he had an up-and-down spring.
Kazmir gave up one hit in six innings and struck out five with three relievers following him, including Kenley Jansen, who earned his first save of the season. No one had any expectations that the Padres were going to contend in the National League West Division this season with the Dodgers and Giants so well-stocked and Arizona spending so freely on upgrades in the offseason. And the Padres haven’t done anything to change that narrative in the first two games.
Again, we know it’s early, but come on, Padres. As Harry Caray used to say, “Let’s get some runs.”
Jon Lester — The Chicago Cubs veteran lefty got off to a strong start to the season by pitching seven innings and limiting the Angels to four hits and one earned run in the Cubs’ 6-1 victory. Lester struck out four and didn’t allow a run, leading the Cubs to a sweep of the brief two-game series.
David Price — Boston’s big free-agent signing of the offseason paid off in the season opener against the Cleveland Indians. Price pitched six innings and struck out 10 in the Red Sox 6-2 win. Price is the first Red Sox pitcher to strike out 10 or more batters in his debut for the club since Daisuke Matsuzaka did so in 2007. Price got some run support from David Ortiz who belted his first home run of the season and 504th of his career.
Johnny Cueto — The Giants biggest free-agent addition also produced right out of the gate with a strong seven innings in which he allowed six hits and one earned run in a 2-1 victory over Milwaukee. Cueto didn’t issue a walk and struck out four.
Ian Kinsler — The veteran second baseman drove in four runs, including the game-winner in the 11th inning for Detroit in a 8-7 win in Miami. Kinsler went 3-for-6 and scored two runs and helped the Tigers survive the Marlins’ rally from three down in the ninth inning.
Here’s Paul Goldschmidt going deep in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 11-6 win over the Colorado Rockies. The D-backs trailed early, but nine runs combined in the sixth and seventh innings.
Astros 5, Yankees 3 — Carlos Correa and Luis Valbuena each drove in two runs for the Astros in the season opener for both teams that had been delayed for a day by inclement weather. New York manager Joe Girardi protested the game because of a controversial play in the eighth inning.
Mets 2, Royals 0 — Pitcher Noah Syndergaard struck out nine batters over six innings to earn his first win of the season. Second baseman Neil Walker belted a two-run home run to provide the only scoring.
Pirates 6, Cardinals 5 — Andrew McCutchen went 3-for-5 and drove in a run and Gregory Polanco had two RBIs and scored the winning run in the 11th inning after Jordy Mercer singled.
White Sox 5, A’s 4 — Jimmy Rollins hit a game-winning home run off Sean Doolittle in the ninth inning. Oakland had rallied from two down an inning earlier to tie the game.
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