Dylan Cease pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed one run on three hits to help the San Diego Padres get a 2-1 win over the Kansas City Royals at Petco Park, Saturday. Cease allowed three walks and recorded four strikeouts on 110 pitches.
The start from Cease limited the amount of innings that needed to be covered by the San Diego bullpen. Jeremiah Estrada, who has been shaky in recent outings, came into the game needing one out to end the seventh and he got that against the first batter he faced with a strikeout of Jonathan India.
The efforts of Cease and Estrada preserved a 2-1 lead for the Padres heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs and two runners on Fernando Tatis Jr. made his mark on the game with a three-run home run to left-center field to give San Diego a 5-1 lead.
Estrada returned to the mound in the top of the eighth and allowed a double to Witt Jr. Estrada recorded the first out of the inning with a strikeout and was replaced by Adrian Morejon. He quickly recorded a groundout and a fly out on five pitches to end the top of the eighth.
Morejon retuned in the top of the ninth and got three outs against three batters with a groundout, a pop out and a groundout to preserve the win for San Diego.
The Padres started the scoring when Gavin Sheets hit a leadoff double into left field in the bottom of the second inning. The hit extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Xander Bogaerts, who recorded two hits in the game, singled to push Sheets to third base.
Jake Cronenworth hit a ground ball to Royals second baseman Jonathan India, who threw to second to force out Bogaerts. The throw from Bobby Witt Jr. to Vinny Pasquantino at first was initially called an out, but the call was challenged and overturned. The result of the play was Sheets scoring to give the Padres a 1-0 lead and Cronenworth standing on first base. He was retired one batter later when Jose Iglesias bounced into a double play.
The Royals responded with a run in the top of the third inning to make the score, 1-1. The first two batters of the inning, Drew Waters and John Rave, singled and doubled to get Kansas City on the board.
San Diego did not waste time in authoring its own response. Martin Maldonado and Tatis Jr. drew back-to-back one out walks to bring Luis Arraez to the plate with runners at first and second. Arraez lined a single through the middle and into centerfield and Maldonado was able to score from second to give the Padres a 2-1 lead.
The Padres will try to win the series with the Royals, Sunday at 1:10 p.m.