After a rough weekend of play in Philadelphia the Padres traveled north to face the Toronto Blue Jays. With Joe Musgrove on the mound, the Padres were expecting a solid outing from him and they got one. He went 6 innings with 7 strikeouts and only gave up 1 run. For the Blue Jays, it was the former all-star Alek Manoah who is having a career-low year around the board. The Padres capitalized and got him out of the game after just 3 short innings with 5 walks and 4 runs. 3 of the 4 runs came off the bat of Juan Soto who had a homer and a double.
In the 5th inning, Manny Machado and Gary Sánchez went deep to expand the lead to 6-1. In the 8th inning, the theme of the long ball would continue with Trent Grisham getting in on the action. Today the bullpen was able to keep the lead safe which lead to a 9-1 Padres victory to start the series.
Here are three takeaways from today’s game:
Bats stay hot
After a great weekend for the offense in Philly, it continued tonight in Toronto. The bats have been this hot the past 4 games which is one of the longer hot streaks on the season. The Padres have a window to turn this season around now and it starts with the offense being able to maintain this level of production. Having guys at the bottom of the lineup being able to help out is huge. With the recent moves of letting go of Odor and Cruz, it looks like the Padres are being more strict about production.
Musgrove looks great
Joe Musgrove has looked great all season long and continues to show why his record of 9-2 isn’t a fluke. He had great command of his pitches tonight only allowing one walk in 6 innings of work. He continues to perform and prove why he is one of baseball’s best.
Continue off of today
Today’s win will only mean something if they turn this into a winning streak. The Padres can ill afford to lose any more games than they have to. They have to get hot and quick if they want any chance of even being a top-three team in the NL West. If they can’t turn games like these into win streaks they will have no chance of competing in October. Today looked promising for the Padres and if they continue to play the way they did today it gives them a solid chance of playing in October.
Game 2 of the series will start at 4:07 p.m. with Yu Darvish on the mound.
