The Walk Off: ‘Miserable’ Padres hit new low by blowing 10-run lead
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 were called “miserable failures” by their top executive on Wednesday. In the two games that followed, the NL West cellar-dwellers scored 25 runs, showing new signs of life.
Then, in the middle of Thursday night’s game against the Seattle Mariners, everything got even more miserable for the Padres. How miserable? Blowing a 10-run lead type of miserable. Allowing the biggest comeback in MLB since 2009 type of miserable.
The Padres led the game 12-2 in the sixth inning. Then the Mariners scored five runs in the sixth. Then an eye-popping nine runs in the seventh. Now, all of a sudden, the Padres were losing 16-12.
San Diego would score once more before things were done, but it was still an embarrassing 16-13 loss. For history’s sake, this was the highest scoring game ever at Petco Park, but it wasn’t one the Padres will look back on fondly. It was their biggest blown lead in franchise history.
Manger Andy Green said after the game:
“It’s one of those things that’s borderline inexplicable. I’ve been around baseball a long time. You don’t see teams come back from 10. That’s just not something that happens very often.”
Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune painted the picture of the devastating seventh inning thusly:
While three San Diego relievers combined to throw 66 pitches in the seventh, a slew of Mariners batters — 13 in all — came to the plate. They doled out their damage at the most painful time, collecting seven consecutive two-out hits. All of them were singles. All found holes in the defense. All drove in at least a run.
That’s something. Something painful. To add to it: The Mariners went 11-for-12 with runners in scoring position, which is ridiculous and a sign that fate wasn’t on San Diego’s side. Fate likely won’t hold up as an excuse, though. This was a new low for the Padres, who fell to 21-34 on the season.
After this loss, they may have earned that “miserable failures” label.
TOP PERFORMERS
• Zack Greinke: The early part of the season wasn’t kind of Greinke, the new Arizona Diamondbacks ace. But he made his best start of the season on Thursday, pitching seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and striking out 11. The D-backs beat the Houston Astros 3-0. It was Greinke’s fourth straight win.
• Francisco Lindor: The Cleveland Indians pulled out an exciting 5-4 win over the Kansas City Royals and it wouldn’t have happened without Lindor’s clutch performance. In the ninth, he tripled to bring home the tying run, then hustled home on a Mike Napoli sac fly to secure Cleveland’s walk-off win.
• Madison Bumgarner: The Giants ace proved once again that he’s dangerous on the mound and at the plate. In his primary gig, Bumgarner pitched 7.2 scoreless innings, striking out 11 and allowing four hits. At the plate, he hit a two-run homer, helping S.F.’s 6-0 win. He also joined some elite company with that homer.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
Take a look at the double play the Yankees turned in the ninth inning of their 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers were threatening, but Didi Gregorius made a great pick and flip on a J.D. Martinez grounder up the middle. A run did score to make it 5-4, but getting the two outs killed Detroit’s rally.
REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
• Marlins 4, Pirates 3: Marlins starter Wei-Yin Chen takes a no-hitter into the seventh, but his team ends up needing 12 innings to win this one. Christian Yelich delivers the walk-off hit.
• Cubs 7, Dodgers 2: Cubs light up Dodgers phenom Julio Urias, who gave up six runs in five innings.
• Orioles 12, Red Sox 7: The O’s crush seven homers, including two each from Adam Jones and Mark Trumbo.
• Twins 6, Rays 4: The Twins crank 15 hits, including a 3-for-3 day for rookie Byung-ho Park.
• Reds 11, Rockies 4: Eugenio Suarez homers twice and drives in four runs to lead the Reds.
• Brewers 4, Phillies 1: Chris Carter and Jonathan Villar homer for the Brew Crew.
More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:
– – – – – – –
Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
