Padres Show Resolve in Balk-Off Over Giants

With injuries and trades opening up spots for young Padres players to show off their skills, several made their presence known in Saturday’s game against the Giants, where the Padres came back and won in the 10th inning on a balk.

The Padres saw a 5-2 lead slip to 5-3 in the 5th before the Giants tied the game in the 6th inning against Carlos Villaneuva. The Padres squandered a 7th inning bases loaded opportunity before the Giants took the lead in the 10th on a Buster Posey home run. The Padres weren’t done.

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Alex Dickerson, who is getting more playing time with the injury to Jon Jay, led off with a single. Trade candidate Derek Norris singled to right and Dickerson scored to third base. Norris then got to second to put the winning run 180 feet away.

Adam Rosales hit a seeing eye single to left bringing home Dickerson and putting Norris at 3rd base. Giants reliever Santiago Casilla just never looked comfortable all evening, and that was punctuated by his awkward motion that led to a balk being called as he half fell, half stumbled off the mound and threw the ball home from about 50 feet away from home plate.

Travis Jankowski of the Padres had a good night, going 1-3 with 2 walks and stealing his 16th base of the season. His speed has shown to be a powerful weapon.

Second baseman Ryan Schimpf blasted another home run – his fifth on the season – though his overall batting average sits at just over .200. Dickerson with his 1-4 with a walk night scored both times he got on base and is hitting .283 now on the season.

Next: Padres Struggling to Find Starting Pitching

The Padres have a lot that didn’t go right in 2016, but as they let the youngsters play and see some positive results at the major league level, it will go a long way into shaping how this team will develop over the seasons remaining couple of months. With Jankowski, Schimpf and Dickerson leading round 1, it is a pretty good start. Just how September call-ups like potentially Hunter Renfroe and Manuel Margot could really give this team something to get excited about.