Padres try an outfield shift and it completely backfires

Shifts are the best or worst thing in baseball, depending on which side you’re on. They’re great when your favorite team uses them, but less so when they stop your favorite team from getting on base.

Regardless, they’re a useful weapon for teams to employ against batters who routinely hit to a certain area. The San Diego Padres, who need every bit of help they can get, tried an outfield shift on Tuesday night during their game against the San Francisco Giants. It didn’t go so well.

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In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Padres decided to try an outfield shift against Giants third baseman Matt Duffy. They moved center fielder John Jay into right center field, moved right fielder Matt Kemp into far right field, and had left fielder Melvin Upton Jr. move to left center.

If you’re wondering who is actually covering center in this setup, that’s a good question. And the answer is: no one. Center field was completely empty.

So when Matt Duffy made contact with a 2-2 pitch and it flew into the air, where do you think it landed? It landed in center, where it dropped untouched with both Jay and Upton Jr. running after it. Duffy got a double out of it, and that put a big inning in motion. The Giants were leading 3-1 when the inning began, and the game was theoretically in reach for the Padres. By the end the Giants had scored five runs, and that gap in center field is what started it all.

Shifts can be great tool, but this one backfired really, really hard for the Padres.

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