Ciriaco’s Bat Plus Defensive Wizardry Help Padres Earn 6-3 Win

Ciriaco had a triple and a home run tonight. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

The Padres needed a boost after two tough losses to the Giants on the road dropped them to 36-36 on the season.  Thankfully, San Diego defeated the Los Angeles “Yasiel Puigs” by a score of 6-3 with the help of some unexpected offensive firepower from Pedro Ciriaco.

I of course call the team formerly known as the “Dodgers” the “Yasiel Puigs” because the rookie phenom has been downright awesome since he made his big league debut.  Puig was his usual “Padre-killing” self tonight as he helped his team jump out to an early 1-0 lead when he absolutely tattooed a Jason Marquis pitch to the opposite field in the top of the first inning.

After Puig’s dinger though, Marquis settled down and pitched four straight innings of scoreless ball until he allowed a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth.  The crafty veteran was able to get one of his runs back though on a nice looping single to left field in the bottom of the fifth which put the Padres on the board.  Marquis pitched well enough to keep his team in the highly contested contest this evening, but he was saddled with a no-decision and must to wait until his next start to earn his 10th victory of the year.

San Diego’s offense finally came alive in the fifth inning after Logan Forsythe followed Marquis’ run scoring single with one of his own.  Then with the game knotted up at two in the bottom of the seventh, Pedro Ciriaco drove in Yasmani Grandal with a triple and Chase Headley laced a single which knocked in another run to boot.  The newly acquired utility player then came up huge in the following frame when he turned on an inside pitch and drilled it deep to left field with Grandal on base.  Ciriaco’s first home run as Padre made the score 6-3 and all appeared well at Petco Park.

Of course, San Diego might not have been able to jump to a three run lead without the help of some tremendous defensive plays courtesy of Forsythe, Chris Denorfia, and Alexi Amarista though.  While Denorfia’s stretch in the stands and Forsythe’s dive out in right field were awesome, the “Little Ninja’s” circus catch was crazy.  Moreover, Amarista’s Superman-like grab saved two potential runs from scoring when the game was only 4-2 in favor of the Padres.

Unfortunately for the Friars, the back-end of their was shaky once again this evening.  Thankfully, even after Huston Street allowed the first three hitters to record hits in the final frame, he still managed to get Skip Schumaker to ground into a double play and struck out Puig to end the game.

I certainly hate to be a “Negative Nancy,” but the fact that members of the Friars’ bullpen continue to allow teams to send the tying and winning runs to the plate after they receive three and four runs cushions is disgusting to watch and must be corrected if this team wishes to play .500+ baseball.

Nit-picking aside, I for one am happy that San Diego earned a hard-fought victory against a division rival.  Tomorrow, Clayton Richard will take the mound for the Friars as they look to go up 2-0 in their series versus the Yasiel Puigs.