Friars On Base
Fansided

Padres News: Pads Win, Split Vedder Cup

By Andrew Beccarelli

facebooktwitterreddit

Now, that’s more like it. James Shields and the San Diego Padres came to play in Seattle for game two of their short series with the Mariners. After getting embarrassed the night before, the Padres were looking for some redemption, and they got it.

More from Padres News

James Shields came out firing, surrendering only one run (you guessed it, a home run) in six innings pitched; striking out 9 batters. Shields got the win and now has a 5-0 record so far for 2015.

Shields did get into some trouble in the sixth, walking the first two batters. Buddy Black came out to the mound in what looked like a switch situation, since Dale Thayer was warming up in the bullpen. Black talked to Shields and the rest of the Padres’ infield at the mound, tapped Shields on the shoulder then walked back to the dugout (via ESPN):

"“We’re new to each other, we’re developing a relationship about how he’s feeling, him being honest, trust all that, that pitchers and managers have to have,” Black said. “In my mind I was going to leave him in because he was still throwing the ball well.”"

Black’s confidence in his starter paid off. Shields escaped the inning with no damage, yelling to fire up his teammates in the dugout. I don’t know if it worked on everyone else, but Corey Spangenberg certainly looked inspired. The rookie infielder got a single his next at bat, then stole second and reached third on a bad throw by the Settle catcher, and finally stole home after a wild pitch. Pretty awesome to see Spangenberg get that run all on his own.

Other notables from the game, Will Middlebrooks hit a solo homer in the third and Craig Kimbrel got the save (10 for 11).

The Padres head home for a four game series with the Washington Nationals, a team a lot of of us at FriarsOnBase.com picked to win the World Series at the start of the season.

More from Friars on Base

Home/Padres News