Matt Kemp Leads Padres to Victory with 2 Home Runs

The Padres needed a win Friday night – and thanks to a great performance from Luis Perdomo and two Matt Kemp home runs – they got it. They won the game 5-3 over the Washington Nationals.

The Padres just suffered four losses at the hands of the Cardinals, with Thursday’s after having a 4 run lead in the 8th inning. Kemp started the scoring with a home run in 1st and a big 3 run homer in a 4 run 5th inning put the Padres in the lead for good.

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Matt Kemp now has 22 home runs on the season. Though it is unlikely he will match his career high of 39 set in 2011, his second highest home run total was 28 in 2010. So he has a great chance for this be one of his biggest power seasons in years.

One interesting stat is that Kemp has just 13 walks this year. This helps explain his league leading 380 at-bats and also only 91 strikeouts this season. While his name certainly circulates in trade talks, he is showing at least perhaps an American League team his power is certainly still a major part of his game. He is hitting just .255, below his career average of .282 which of course is also worth noting.

Meanwhile Perdomo had probably his best game with the Padres on Friday. He pitched 7 strong and allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits. He struck out 3 and walked just 1. He improves to 4-4 on the season and certainly seems to be finding his groove in the starting rotation. I think no one has benefited more from the Padres so-so season than Perdomo. As a Rule 5 pick he had to stay on the roster all season and started the season in dreadful fashion. However, the club stuck with him and now he is showing why.

Next: Padres Lose Lead Late to Cardinals

With Ryan Buchter having a rare bad outing last night, he was left out of the bullpen club tonight but Brad Hand and Brandon Maurer were able to finish things up for the win. The Padres are back at it tomorrow with Edwin Jackson going against Max Scherzer. Jackson nearly threw a no-hitter his last time out and hopes to continue that momentum Saturday.