Padres Week in Review May 18-24th: Black’s Time Ending Soon?

The Padres pitched well against the Cubs, but it wasn’t quite good enough.. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

Cubs Series Recap

The Padres were able to rebound from their 10-5 Sunday loss to come through with a 4-3 victory Tuesday night in San Diego against the Chicago Cubs. Derek Norris provided the major offensive support with a 2-run double in the 8th inning after James Shields pitched 7 solid innings for a no decision. Joaquin Benoit had pitched a scoreless top of the 8th and came away with the win with Craig Kimbrel securing the save in the 9th with 2 strikeouts after a lead off home run. Shields re-took the NL strikeout lead with 11 on the night and just allowed two runs.

Tyson Ross started game 2 of the series for the Padres and allowed three runs in 7 innings of work. He matched his season high of innings pitched and has only allowed more than 3 runs in a game in one start this season. That said, he has allowed at least 2 runs in every start this season as well which adds up to his 3.93 ERA and 2-4 record. Justin Upton launched a home run in the game but the Padres fell short 3-2. The Padres got the tying run to third base in the 9th but Abraham Almonte struck out to end the game.

The finale didn’t get much better for the Padres. Cubs youngsters Kris Bryant and Addison Russell each went deep and Kyle Hendricks got his first win of the year with a complete game shutout. It was a pretty good night for Odrisamer Despaigne who allowed just two runs but the Padres offense was not able to take advantage of the opportunity to score more runs. Yet the story was Hendricks who previously had not thrown past 8 innings in the majors. Bryant also leads the Cubs with 27 RBI while former Cub Anthony Rizzo leads the team with 8 home runs.

The Cubs series saw the Padres dip below .500 and questions remaining about how to keep opposing teams in the ballpark and score more consistently. They would head up the 5 to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers who were coming off a three game shutout sweep at the hands of their own rivals the San Francisco Giants.

Padres Week in Review May 18-24th: Black’s Time Ending Soon?

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