The Padres pitching staff shut the Brewers out and the bottom of the order led the way for a 2-0 victory in Milwaukee on Friday night.
Starter Randy Vásquez (3-4, 3.69 ERA) lived around the zone, getting the red-hot Brewers lineup to chase at times but also issued free runners. Vasquez allowed four walks and a hit-by-pitch, but worked himself out of jams by challenging the Milwaukee offense and depending on his hard stuff.
“Vásquez, more than did his part,” said manager Mike Shildt. “He was able to tap dance around some walks, some self-inflicted, more close pitches, more close misses.”
Padres (36-26) pitchers leaving runners on base was the story of the night for the Brewers (34-30), as they had ten stranded and went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. San Diego’s bullpen was stubborn, refusing to let Milwaukee barrel up and keeping hitters off-balance by gassing them.
The Padres lineup on the other hand kept finding ways to get on base, despite the top of the order recording two hits. Left fielder Tyler Wade bunted for a single in the third and catcher Martín Maldonado followed up with a hit-and-run single executed perfectly to move Wade to third base.
Designated hitter Luis Arraez (.283 BA, .722 OPS) fell behind 0-2, but muscled an outside fastball away for an RBI single to take a 1-0 lead. The 7-8-9 hitters combined for five hits.
“That’s how you win games,” Shildt said. “It’s how you get to the playoffs. That’s what playoff baseball is about, you just find a way.”
Third baseman Manny Machado (.316 BA, .886 OPS) got some much-needed insurance in the eighth, crushing a middle-in sweeper for his ninth home run of the year and extending the lead to 2-0.
“It’s a team effort every night, but man he’s chipping in a lot,” Shildt said. “It’s just taking good at-bats, playing good defense. He’s just playing at the MVP caliber player that he is.”
Vásquez finished his outing allowing zero earned runs, two hits and two strikeouts in 4 ⅔ innings pitched. The Friars’ bullpen combined for two hits, zero earned runs and six strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings pitched.
“We got a good bullpen,” Shildt said. “We had our guys that bring it home in there tonight. They were fresh and ready to go. They really made a lot of quality pitches to good hitters.”
Closer Robert Suarez (1.91 ERA) shut the door in the ninth for his Majors-leading 20th save of the year and the 2-0 win in Milwaukee. Wandy Peralta earned his third win of the season after replacing Vásquez and striking out Christian Yelich with runners on the corners for the final out in the fifth, as well as a walk and a K in the sixth.
San Diego will see the Brewers again for game two of the three-game series on Saturday, at 4:35 p.m.