Padres shut out Brewers in series opener
MILWAUKEE — A bunt single, a hit-and-run, a well-placed single. A run-saving play on defense. Pitches when they simply had to be made. A home run by Manny Machado.
The Padres found another way to construct another slim margin of victory.
“It’s just the way we play baseball,” Machado said.
They scored in the third inning, got a little breathing room in the eighth from Machado’s homer in the eighth, survived a whole bunch of stress in between and left American Family Field on Friday night with a 2-0 victory in the opener of a three-game series against the Brewers.
It was the major league-leading 22nd time the Padres won a game by no more than two runs.
The margin was double that of any of the Padres’ previous four games — wins Monday and Tuesday and losses Wednesday and Thursday in San Francisco.
““We played a heck of a series in San Francisco,” catcher Martín Maldonado said. “Coming in here, long travel. We gotta try to do whatever we’ve got to do. We always talk about score one more run than the other team, and that’s what it takes.”
The Padres’ 11th shutout victory, also most in MLB, was put together by starting pitcher Randy Vásquez and relievers Wandy Peralta, Jeremiah Estrada, Adrián Morejón and Robert Suarez.
They all delivered in high-leverage moments.
“They know this game is about making pitches,” Maldonado said.
“We’ve seen the games like this,” Morejón said. “The games have called for those types of situations. Fortunately, we have been able to hold leads.”
For a time, it seemed as if a few of them were determined to let the Brewers walk away with a win.
Vásquez did not get burned playing with fire. He just didn’t allow himself to be around long enough to be in line for the win.
He had allowed just one hit but walked four batters and had stranded a runner on second base twice when he got into trouble again in the fifth.
The beginning of his end was an 0-1 sinker that hit No.9 batter Joey Ortiz on the tricep with one out. Bryce Turang followed with a single before Jackson Chourio flied out to center fielder Jackson Merrill on the warning track, moving Ortiz to third.
That brought Peralta into the game for a left-on-left matchup with Christian Yelich, who he struck out.
Peralta then began the sixth with a walk before getting a strikeout and being replaced by Estrada, who walked the first batter he faced before ending the inning with a strikeout and a fly ball to center field.
Estrada got the first two outs of the seventh and gave way after yielding a single to Chourio.
The lefty Morejón was called on to face Yelich.
Morejón got up 0-2 on Yelich and Chourio stole on the next pitch. After another ball, Yelich grounded a ball up the middle that would have scored Chourio had second baseman Jake Cronenworth not ran into the grass to backhand the ball. That Yelich got an infield single proved inconsequential when Morejón struck out clean-up batter William Contreras.
Morejón also worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning before Robert Suarez extended his major-league leading saves total to 20 with a quick ninth.
Tyler Wade began the third inning by reaching on a bunt he pushed toward shortstop and went to third when Martin Maldonado punched a sinker the other way through the right side on a hit-and-run.
After Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded out, Luis Arraez placed a grounder through a hole on the left side to drive in Wade.
Machaco popped out and Merrill struck out to end that inning with Maldonado on second, and the Padres finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position after also leaving Maldonado on second base and Brandon Lockridge on third in the seventh.
“Well-pitched game,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “They did their part. … We were able to scratch and claw because they were pretty stubborn on their side with the pitching. And we did have some chances to open it up and weren’t able to capitalize. But, you know, little things matter. Wadey with his bunt knock and the hit-and-run by Maldy, and then Luis using the other way to scratch a run. And, of course, Manny with the big homer later to give us a little bit of breathing room. So it was a good, well-played baseball game. Good defense, good pitching. Well-played in all phases.”
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