San Diego Padres reliever Adrian Morejon was called on to face Boston Red Sox leadoff man Roman Anthony with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning.
The Padres entered the inning with a 5-0 lead, but watched the Red Sox cut the deficit to 5-2. Morejon worked to a full count against Anthony before getting him to swing over the top of an inside pitch to get out of the seventh to maintain the lead for San Diego.
The Padres responded to the Red Sox rally with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez each singled to start the inning. Manny Machado flied to deep center field, which allowed Tatis Jr. to tag up and move to third. Ryan O’Hearn brought him in to score with a sacrifice fly ball to left field that gave the Padres a 6-2 lead.
San Diego reliever David Morgan completed the final two innings without allowing another run to Boston and the Padres went on to beat the Red Sox, 6-2, en route a series win at Petco Park, Sunday.
San Diego Manager Mike Shildt has been telling reporters that his starting pitchers need to go deeper into games. Dylan Cease must have been listening because he delivered one of his best starts of the season, completing 6-plus innings, allowing two runs on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
Cease left the game in the top of the sixth inning with a 5-0 lead, no outs and two runners on. He handed the ball over to Jason Adam, who hit the first batter he faced to load the bases. Adam got what appeared to be a double-play ground ball to short that was misplayed by Xander Bogaerts. The result was two runs scored by Boston to cut the deficit to 5-2 and the Red Sox still had runners at first and second with no outs.
Boston reloaded the bases with a single by Wilyer Abreu and Adam got the first out of the inning with a strikeout of Ceddanne Rafaela. Adam then struck out Abraham Toro to end his outing before turning the ball over to Morejon.
Cease had a lead to work with after the bottom of the third inning. Freddy Fermin hit a two-out single for the first Padres hit of the game. Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second base for Arraez. He sent a ball into left-center field that landed beyond the reach of Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran. The ball rolled to the wall and Fermin and Tatis Jr. scored to put San Diego up, 2-0.
The Padres added to their lead with an RBI-single by Tatis Jr. in the bottom of the fifth inning. The hit allowed Jake Cronenworth to score to give the Padres a 3-0 lead. Tatis Jr. was thrown out at second base, trying to stretch his single into a double.
San Diego tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI-single by Bogaerts and a bases loaded walk by Cronenworth. The Padres had a 5-0 lead after the sixth.
The Padres head to San Francisco to play the Giants, Monday at 6:45 p.m.