Padres Recap: June 13, 2015

Justin Upton was the difference maker tonight with a solo home run in the eighth inning off Zach Greinke, elevating the San Diego Padres to a 2-1 victory over division rival Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres other run tonight came in the first inning, Will Venable scored on a Matt Kemp single.

This was a big win for the Padres to help keep pace in the National League West. The Padres now stand at 32-32, five games behind the Dodgers.

Ian Kennedy started and pitched well enough to get the win but that honor goes to Brandon Maurer. Kennedy threw seven innings, giving up just four hits and one run. Craig Kimbrel got the save in the ninth with a textbook performance.

While the win is big, one of the biggest stories for me is Yonder Alonso starting at third base and Wil Myers at firstbase. Before the game Buddy Black has this to say (via Padres.com):

"“It has more to do with how Venable is hitting,” said Black. “Venable is a good defender in center. Myers is a good defender at first. We’re hoping Alonso makes the plays at third.”"

Before Myers’ returned from his wrist injury, Will Venable was hitting and playing pretty well, and with the approaching arrival of Melvin Upton, I was wondering what Black was going to do.

I have to commend Black for taking a shot with this lineup. Hopefully against lesser pitching it produce more runs. With Alonso at third (a position he grew up playing) that allows the Padres to put Will Middlebrooks at shortstop (a position he played in college); and if Middlebrooks continues to hit well, then Preller’s long term solution at shortstop may have just fallen into his lap.

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