Padres Weekly Recap: April 5th-12th, Let the Fun Begin

The Padres won Game 2 by a 1-0 margin. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Coming Home: Giants Series Recap

Thursday was the Padres Home Opener against 2014 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. It had all the pomp and circumstance we have come to expect of Opening Day at Petco Park, and the Padres were excited to show off their new roster and HD Scoreboard in left field. Unfortunately, once the game got going the most exciting thing for most of it was the Giants triple switch late in the game. While Ian Kennedy had to exit due to a hamstring injury after just 2 1/3, Odrisamer Despagne pitched 4 2/3 of perfect baseball to keep the Giants off the board through the first seven innings. Unfortunately for the Padres, Giants veteran Tim Hudson was doing the same thing. Craig Kimbrel worked around a lead-off triple after Bud Black‘s first ejection of the 2015 season in the 9th to send the game to extra innings. The Giants Justin Maxwell pinch-hit single in the 12th gave the Giants the 1-0 lead they needed to win Game 1 of the series. Where was that new offense?

In Game 2 on Friday, the vaunted new offense also spent most of the game in a slumber. After fifth starter Brandon Morrow pitched seven terrific innings in his Padres debut, only allowing four hits and striking out seven, once again the game went to the bullpens. Tim Lincecum pitched seven strong innings of his own, and continued his success against the Padres but no no-hitter this time around. Wil Myers finally broke the game through with a RBI double in the eighth to give the Padres the only offense they would need. Kimbrel came along for his first save as a Padre, though with no strikeouts this time.

Saturday the Padres finally showed the Giants they got some new bats this winter. And remember how you beat up on James Shields in the World Series? Not this time. A World Series rematch that finally went right this time for Shields, in Bumgarner vs. Shields. The bats exploded with the Padres scoring 10 runs on 20 hits to defeat the Giants 10-2! They were lead by Yongervis Solarte going 3-4 with a walk (and getting the start at 1B), Matt Kemp going 4-5 with two doubles, and Will Middlebrooks going 3-5 as well. It is interesting to note they did not hit any home runs and only had two doubles out of those 20 hits. James Shields pitched seven strong with seven K’s to pick up his first Padres win.

In the series finale, it was the much anticipated return of Jake Peavy to San Diego; only the second time he had faced his former team. Tyson Ross delivered his second straight quality start and got the win this time. Ross only allowed three runs over six innings and struck out eight. The big hit though was Wil Nieves, who caught Jake Peavy‘s first start as a Padre back in 2002. He hit a grand slam off of Peavy in the fourth to give the Padres the lead they would not relinquish. Buster Posey hit a home run in the seventh for the Giants to pull within one, but recently called up pticher Chris Rearick got out of the jam, and Craig Kimbrel closed it out in the ninth for his second save this season.

The good news out of the weekend, for the Giants, is that third baseman, Casey McGehee, won’t be out an extended amount of time; but the Padres proved to the Giants that this year they have the lumber, the pitching, and the tenacity to win both slug-fests and the pitching duels.

Next: Who Gets the First Padre Player of the Week?