In recent years, the San Diego Padres haven’t played well or gotten much good luck against the Seattle Mariners, reflected in their 4-14 record against their interleague rivals in their previous 18 meetings before Tuesday night.
But if Xander Bogaerts’ two RBI hits during a 4-1 victory in the opener of a three-game series are any indication, that record and luck might be changing.
Exit velocity might not have wowed the analytics crowd, but the results were good enough for San Diego to notch its sixth straight win and its ninth victory in the past 10 games.
The Padres will try to keep rolling Wednesday night when they shoot for a series win over Seattle in San Diego.
Bogaerts pushed his batting average to .270 after recording three hits on Tuesday. He drove in two runs in the third inning with a looping single to shallow center and knocked in another run in the eighth by dinking a single over a drawn-in infield.
If nothing else, it shows the value of simply making contact instead of striking out. And Padres manager Craig Stammen said Bogaerts was due a peck on the cheek from the baseball gods.
“He didn’t really hit them as hard as he’s been hitting them,” Stammen said. “But we talk about the luck kind of turning our way and some of those softer hits falling in.”
San Diego has outscored opponents 40-15 during its winning streak, taking every game by at least three runs. The Padres will try to extend the streak to seven behind right-hander Randy Vasquez (1-0, 1.02 ERA), their best starting pitcher through the first 17 games.
Vasquez has allowed just two runs in 17 2/3 innings and is coming off a no-decision in the team’s 7-3, 12-inning win Thursday night against Colorado. He scattered seven hits over 5 2/3 innings but allowed just one run and struck out eight.
Seattle will counter with right-hander Emerson Hancock (2-1, 2.04 ERA), who last pitched on Friday night and got the win in a 9-6 verdict over Houston. Hancock lasted five innings, allowing four hits and three runs, with two walks and five strikeouts.
Hancock has pitched well in two career starts against the Padres, logging a 1.86 ERA in 9 2/3 innings without a decision.
Vasquez, in his fourth season in the majors, will face the Mariners for the first time.
Seattle appeared to have found some offense during a four-game sweep of the Houston Astros in a wraparound weekend series, but on Tuesday, that attack was replaced by the pop-gun offense that served as a source of frustration in the season’s first three weeks.
The Mariners managed four hits off Michael King and three relievers. Their batting average is a meager .205, ranked 28th in MLB, and they have only 70 runs, well below the Astros’ MLB-leading 102.
That offensive output has wasted some pretty good pitching. As a team, Seattle is second in ERA at 3.02 and leads MLB in WHIP (walks plus hits/innings pitched) at 1.06.
Hitters such as Josh Naylor, who have been struggling, know that there’s plenty of time to turn things around.
“This game we play is the hardest game in the world, in my opinion,” said Naylor, who is batting .134 this season. “So I think trying to do things to minimize thinking too much, I guess, that helps you in the long run.”
–Field Level Media
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