The Padres returned to action Friday night against the Philadelphia. In a rematch of last year’s NLCS, the Padres would be the ones victorious this time around. It was a wire-to-wire victory for the Friars with a Gary Sánchez 3rd inning homerun. Later in the 3rd inning Fernando followed that up with a homer of his own. All of the Padre bats kept the hot streak going as 6 different hitters had at least one RBI.

Here are three takeaways from the game: 

Darvish Dominance

Yu Darvish looked fantastic in today’s 8-3 victory. Yu Darvish gave the team a significant lift with 6 innings thrown only giving up 1 run. The Phillies hitters couldn’t touch Darvish as he had 9 strikeouts on the night. This is the type of performance manager Bob Melvin will be looking for from his star pitcher during this big stretch of games coming up for the team.

Bats Look Strong

Maybe a break is what this lineup needed as every starting hitter 1-9 recorded a hit. They were putting together great at-bats and getting the Phillies starter out of the game after a quick 5 innings. There was a total of 4 home runs from Soto, Machado, Sánchez, and Tatis Jr. Overall a very satisfying performance in today’s game. This is hopefully a sign of good things coming for the Padres after today’s performance. They will have to be strong the rest of the way in order to make the playoffs.

Lack of Focus

Today in the 9th inning Juan Soto lost a ball in the lights allowing a run to score. While it may seem like the run by not matter as the team would still be up 8-3, it forced Josh Hader to come in. This could have an effect in the long run as it is rare for Josh Hader to pitch 3 days in a row. It would be unfortunate for the Padres to not have their closer in a late-game situation because they had to save a 7-run lead. 

The Padres will have a doubleheader tomorrow starting at 10:05 AM PST.