San Diego Padres: Week #15 recap

Recapping all of the action from the All-Star break and weekend series between the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.

The All-Star break has come and gone, and the second half of the season is officially underway. For the Padres, this means looking forward to the trade deadline, likely the most significant event of 2017 remaining for the organization.

But in the meantime, the team is still playing baseball, and actually higher quality baseball in recent weeks. Finishing the first half of the season on a high note with series victories in Cleveland and Philadelphia, the club looked to carry their momentum through to this past weekend.

The excitement of seeing reliever Brad Hand pitch a 1-2-3 inning in the All-Star game was one of the highlights of the week. Though no other Padre got the nod to represent the organization in Miami, the 27-year-old Hand represented well.

Related Story: Week #15 power rankings update

Coming out of the break, the Padres had the last place Giants right out of the gate at Petco Park. After losing the first game by a final of 5-4, a tight contest in which the Friars almost rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, San Diego came storming back and took the final two games of the series.

The bad news was that catcher Austin Hedges went out with an injury on Friday. The good news, however, was that his replacement Hector Sanchez more than made up for his absence by hitting a walk-off home run on Saturday night, and sending a three-run blast well out of the park on Sunday to help the team clinch the series victory.

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The starting pitching was also very strong throughout the series. Clayton Richard and Jhoulys Chacin gave the Padres quality starts on Friday and Saturday, even though they earned no-decisions. On Sunday, the Padres got a very strong start from Trevor Cahill who went six and 2/3 innings, adding to his potential trade value.

Other strong weekends were turned in by Cory Spangenberg who hit a three-run bomb on Sunday, as well as Jabari Blash who was called up to fill in for the injured Hunter Renfroe. Evidently, it was mainly players who many overlook who got the job done this week.

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Overall, the week was another positive one for the Padres. They rested well during the break while Hand made everyone proud, and they came away with their third consecutive series victory. Now, the Padres will look to keep the momentum going as they play the Rockies and the Giants away from Petco Park in the season’s 16th week.