Padres Edwin Jackson Nearly Throws No-Hitter in Victory

The Padres took advantage of the market this week in trading Drew Pomeranz, and as a result they had to call up Edwin Jackson from AAA El Paso who they signed about a month ago. I was skeptical of any reasonable success – but it worked out pretty well on Sunday.

Jackson took a no-hitter into the 7th before losing it in dramatic fashion, allowing a three run home run but was still able to get the victory – his first of 2016. Did the Padres get lucky or can they expect a rapid regression?

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The good news is – the bullpen came on strong and was able to save the 5-3 win and series sweep after a Yangervis Solarte insurance run shot in the bottom of the 7th gave the Padres the necessary cushion. Ryan Buchter pitched for the third straight day with the same result for his 15th hold and Brandon Maurer picked up his third save since taking over for Fernando Rodney.

Offensively, Matt Kemp, Solarte, and Christian Bethancourt all hit solo home runs for the Padres. Bethancourt, Ryan Schimpf and Edwin Jackson of all people had two hits on the day for the Padres.

Jackson did throw a no hitter back in 2010 when he was with the Arizona Diamondbacks – a game where he threw 149 pitches. At that time he was a 26 year old who had made the All Star team in 2009 for Detroit where he went 13-9.

This year he pitched in just 8 games for Miami to the tune of a 5.91 ERA. So to think at all that he is a long term solution for the Padres is most likely fallacy, yet…would he be a bad guy to fill in a rotation spot while the Padres deal with calling up young pitchers and injuries?

I know that Eric Stults is no longer in baseball, but I can see Jackson a little like what he did for the Padres in 2013-14: He will make his 20-30 starts a year, pitch to an ERA just north of 4 and keep his team in the game. When Robbie Erlin and Colin Rea struggle or have some injuries, you know Jackson will start the next game, pitch his 6 innings and hope the offense comes to the park at night.

In the end, the chances Jackson is with the Padres beyond this year is unlikely unless they can keep him on the cheap, but at least for today he kept the excitement of All Star Week going at Petco Park by giving the Padres their first sweep of the season and against the team that will most likely represent the NL West in the playoffs: the San Francisco Giants.