The San Diego Padres saved themselves from disaster on Sunday afternoon in Chicago. Heroics from Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado, and the closing of Robert Suarez saved them.
They were down 7-3 early in the game after pitcher Kyle Hart gave up five runs in the first inning. They climbed back to be down 7-6 going into the 8th inning when Gavin Sheets singled to right, bringing in Merrill to tie things up at 7-7.
At the top of the 9th inning, Machado grounded it straight to the shortstop, who threw Fernando Tatis Jr. out at second. Then, a throw was made to first base, but Justin Turner couldn't gain control of the ball, which made Machado save. Tatis saw them scrambling to gain control of the ball, so he stole home to give them a one-run lead.
Suarez cleaned this up, getting all three batters out, bringing them the 8-7 victory, and avoiding the sweep.
The Padres struggled in Chicago, whether it was the first road trip of the season that slowed them down or the weather in the city— they struggled.
The pitching wasn't very good over the three-game stretch. On Friday, Randy Vazquez had the bases loaded and walked three players in the first inning, all while having two outs.
In game two, pitcher Nick Pivetta only lasted three innings, giving up six hits and three earned runs. Omar Cruz came in pitching 2.2 innings and gave up four hits and two runs. Alex Jacob gave up two more runs in 1.1 innings, so that was all seven runs with a combined 11 hits and eight walked batters.
The pitching wasn't the only problem the bats were flying the way they did in San Diego. Machado went 2-for-13, Xander Bogaerts went 3-for-11, Jake Cronenworth went 3-for-12, and Tatis went 3-for-12.
The positive was Luis Arraez's 6-for-12 performance after starting the season 0-for-13. He went 4-for-5 on Sunday, bringing in a run that got them to 7-6 in the 5th inning.
Fighting back from being down 7-3 is the biggest positive, especially because it continues what the Padres did last season: being a comeback team to avoid the sweep.
The Padres are in one of the most competitive divisions in baseball because they are in the NL West with the loaded LA Dodgers, who currently sit at 9-2 after losing two of three to the Phillies.
Former Padres, now San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin, has his team at 8-1, which is impressive, especially because all of the division hype is toward the Dodgers, Padres, and even Arizona Diamondbacks.
San Diego will now head to Sacramento to face the Athletics, who are 4-6 and were swept by the Cubs before going 2-1 against the Colorado Rockies.
After facing the A's, the Padres will return to Petco Park for three games against the Rockies and then three games against the Cubs.
Avoiding a sweep by Chicago after starting 7-0 is a solid save after losing two in a row. They need to go into Sacramento to make a statement. Typically, the Padres get off to slow starts, but this year, being 8-2 in the first ten games is impressive and could help them turn the NL West into a race.
The rollercoaster went straight down during this two-game skid but picked up slightly with Sunday's win. It is up to the leaders like Tatis, Machado, and Merrill to start steering the cart upward to keep up with the top of the NL West.