Padres Split Brief Series With Twins

Aug 5, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; San Diego Padres first baseman Yonder Alonso (23) hits a double in the second inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

  Padres Series Overview 

The Padres (52-61) split the series with the Twins (51-61) at Target Field this week. Both rookie pitchers made mistakes that made life difficult for the Padres to overcome. In the series preview, I mentioned that the Padres needed just a little offense to win the series. One run in the first game didn’t cut it but the Padres came through in Game 2. Both Jesse Hahn and Odrisamer Despaigne had decent starts, but nothing spectacular like last month.

The offense sputtered at times, but it was not completely in shut-down mode. The team hit .284 in the two games. The Padres got to Kevin Correia after a few innings after being silenced most of the game. The offensive player of the series is Yonder Alonso. He seemed to have been slumping since his return from the DL a couple of weeks ago. But he was responsible for the only run in Tuesday’s loss when he hit his 6th home run of the year. He had 3 hits in that game and added 3 more on Wednesday, including the key double that would eventually tie the game in the top of the 9th.

The pitching staff wasn’t as lights-out as usual, but they still pitched well. The staff as a whole had a 3.50 ERA in the two games. The bullpen pitched 6.2 innings of shutout ball. Hahn and Despaigne walked a combined 7 Twins. The Padres offense just could not pick up the occasional hiccup by the starters.