SAN DIEGO – After Monday night’s win the Padres were looking to bring that energy into today’s July 4th matchup. It would be challenging as the Angels had their superstar ace on the mound Shohei Ohtani. Before Tuesday’s game, Juan Soto stated that Ohtani would have trouble against this Padres lineup.
While Ohtani didn’t struggle with Soto, he would struggle against the rest of the lineup. Today was the first time ever Ohtani gave up back-to-back homers with Bogaerts and Cronenworth going yard. Also, with that hit, Jake Cronenworth was the first time ever one player had 3 extra-base hits against Ohtani. It wouldn’t be a Padres game without a bullpen collapse. Today in the 9th inning Jose Castillo gave up 4 earned runs forcing Hader to come in a shut the door. This will most likely make him unavailable in the series finale tomorrow.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
Star on the mound
Today the best pitcher on the mound was Joe Musgrove. He went 7 innings giving up only 3 hits, 1 BB, 1 ER, and struck out 11 strikeouts. Knowing that he would need a long outing most likely to get a win he went out there and was efficient. By only walking one batter and not wasting pitches it allowed him to go deep into this game. If the bullpen had to go in earlier tonight who knows how the game would have turned out. Outstanding outing by Musgrove tonight in arguably his best start of the season.
The bats stay hot
Today was an amazing all-around effort by all of the bats. Out of all days to do it today was the day with Shohei on the mound. It was the players who had been struggling as of late who came alive for the Friars. Machado went 3-3 and Cronenworth had a carrer day. Doing what they did today on one of baseball’s best arms should give them the confidence to keep this going.
Bullpen continues to struggle
The performance of the bullpen will be overshadowed by the day the offense had but it should not go unnoticed. If the game wasn’t such a blowout it would have been a way bigger issue. It got to the point where they had to waste Hader on a day that they didn’t need to use him. The Angels even got the winning run up to bat. This group will most likely be gaining some arms at the deadline. The bullpen is lacking consistent arms and that is a major flaw on a team that is trying to make a postseason push.
The series finale will take place at 5:40 p.m.
