With Pedro Avila squaring off against Michael Lorenzen, Avila showed up and showed out. He kept the Phillies off the board during his start while the team took care of things on the offensive end. By the time Avila was relieved by the bullpen, the Padres had already grabbed a 7-0 lead and were enjoying giving the Phillies a taste of their own medicine from Monday’s game. San Diego would tag on one more run in the 8th to make it 8-0 as they rolled to a shutout win and evened the series at 1 game a piece.
Here are three takeaways from a well-earned win:
Avila shines, collects his first win of the season
In 10 appearances for the Padres this year, Tuesday’s game was only the 4th start for Pedro Avila. His previous outings have shown his ability to be a valuable arm for San Diego and eat up crucial innings for the team. Against the Phillies, he was all business and stormed through their lineup. Despite allowing 6 walks in the game, he was able to work around trouble and get through the first 6.2 innings without allowing a run to score.
Through 91 pitches, he was able to work through a start in which Philadelphia put the ball in play frequently, as Avila only tallied 1 strikeout overall. The performance helped him to lower his ERA on the season to 2.19 as he improved his record to 1-2. With the Padres essentially out of the playoff race, it will be interesting to see if the team gives him more starting appearances throughout the final month of the season. If this is the case, Avila will only have more chances to prove his worth as a key piece of the pitching staff that can make a big impact going forward.
Padres force Lorenzen into long night
Since being acquired by the Phillies at the trade deadline, Michael Lorenzen has had a shaky past month of baseball. After a solid first 2 starts with the team in which he even managed to throw a no-hitter, Lorenzen has since allowed performances of 6 ER, 4 ER, and 3 ER. Things did not get better for him as he took on the Padres, who woke up the offense in the 4th inning and got to work. They jumped on Lorenzen for 3 runs, including a monster home run by Fernando Tatis Jr. to open the game’s scoring.
Things would only get better for San Diego, as 4 more runs in the sixth would make it a 7-0 ballgame and knock Lorenzen back into the dugout for good. The offensive showing comes as a welcomed sight after the first game of the series saw the Phillies as the team to put up 9 runs. For Lorenzen, the frustration only grows, and his rough start did Philadelphia no favors as they try to lock up a playoff spot.
Campusano impresses with nice game from the plate
As the Padres have spent the last couple months of the season platooning back and forth between Gary Sanchez and Luis Campusano at the catcher position, they have struggled to see major production. However, as Campusano has seen more and more reps, his batting average has remained impressive and can be seen as a potential bright spot. Through 35 games and 110 at-bats this year, Campusano is hitting .309 with an .818 OPS. He had a nice game against the Phillies, as a 2-4 performance resulting in 3 RBIs helped the Padres on the way to their 9-0 victory.
The recent production out of the catcher position for the Padres comes as a nice sight, with Gary Sanchez also heating up. Over his last 7 games, Sanchez is batting .304 with 7 hits, 2 home runs, and 4 RBI. While it’s unclear whether either of the 2 catchers will be in the cards for San Diego next season, the pair will try and play their best ball this month to prove their cases.
Thanks to the nice bounce-back win for the Padres, they will have a chance to take the series in the rubber match on Wednesday afternoon. The 11-2 Michael Wacha will take on Zach Wheeler with San Diego looking to grab a second consecutive series win before an off day.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. PT.
