SAN DIEGO – In a game where they never led until the final play of the game, the San Diego Padres showed their ‘grit squad’ mettle to top the Miami Marlins 4-3 in 11 innings at Petco Park on Memorial Day.
Tyler Wade came on as a pinch runner for Manny Machado, after the Padres (30-22) put him 90 feet away on a Gavin Sheets ground out. When Marlins (21-31) reliever Cade Gibson bounced a curveball that got away from Liam Hicks, Wade’s read and speed produced the decisive run on the wild pitch.
It was the kind of play that San Diego had not been getting over the recent rough patch.
There is also the fact that there is now a suddenly power-surging Machado.
The third baseman squared up a 2-0 cutter on the outside third of the plate from reliever Calvin Faucher, knocking off the left field scoreboard to tie the game in the eighth. It’s the second straight game he’s homered, bringing his season total to six, with three coming in the last four contests.
It picked up starting pitcher Randy Vásquez, who had a bulldog effort in allowing six hits and three earned runs early, then turning in five strikeouts and one walk over 6 1/3 innings.
The Marlins cracked five hits the first time through the order, getting two-runs in the first on an RBI double by Jesús Ramírez and an RBI single by Connor Norby. Then Ramírez added a solo home run with two outs in the second for an early 3-0 lead.
After that Vásquez faced the minimum over his final 14 batters. The lone base runner came when Sánchez worked a full count walk in the fifth, then he was erased on a strike out-caught stealing double play.
The Padres bullpen kept the trend up, as Miami recorded just one hit over the final nine innings of play as Adrian Morejon earned his second win of the season after pitching an unblemished 11th with a strikeout.
David Morgan made his MLB debut in the eighth inning, coming in with one out after Wandy Peralta pitched an inning of relief with a walk and a strikeout. Morgan got Augustín Ramirez to line right to Jake Cronenworth on a first pitch slider, then closed the inning with a pop out.
Robert Suarez and Jason Adam also came on and held the Fish in line with each recording a strikeout.
Xander Bogaerts started a two-out rally in the fourth with a hard single back up the middle, then Cronenworth reached when Conor Norby sailed the throw from third base. After Luis Campusano worked a full count walk, Jose Iglesias yanked it down the third base line for a two-RBI double to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Gibson took his second loss of the season for Miami.
Stephen Kolek (2-1, 2.84 ERA) is slated to get the start for San Diego in the second game of the series, facing Max Meyer (3-4, 4.15 ERA) for the 6:40 p.m. first pitch on Tuesday at Petco Park.
This story will be updated.