San Diego Padres: LHP Eric Lauer Shines Again as Padres Win

The San Diego Padres returned to action last night, taking down the San Francisco Giants 9-7.

Was anyone else caught off-guard last night with no TV coverage of the San Diego Padres game? Thursday night and under the lights, but no cameras? Regardless, the Padres beat the Giants which is always a pleasure, even if it is spring training.

LHP Eric Lauer got the start, working four innings and giving up four hits, just one earned run and no walks. Lauer struck out four Giants’ hitters on the night, sitting down Austin Jackson, Evan Longoria, and Trevor Brown looking at strike three.

There’s been a lot of hype around Lauer and Joey Lucchesi as possible pieces to the rotation in the very near future which is deservedly so. Matching up against a near duplicate of the Giants’ Opening Day lineup, Lauer was brilliant.

Lauer finished with six ground ball outs compared to just one fly ball out. Andy Green decided to stretch out Lauer into the fourth inning, his longest outing of the spring. His fourth inning performance impressed me the most. With a four run lead, Lauer gave up a leadoff triple to Hunter Pence, but responded with a strikeout of Andrew McCutchen. After giving up back-to-back singles and his only earned run of the night, Lauer induced two ground balls to get him out of the inning.

He held the lead and didn’t implode against an extremely experienced San Francisco lineup. If you live in or near El Paso and want to catch Lauer pitch live, get to a game early on this season. Here’s what Andy Green had to say about Lauer in his post-game comments,

"“For him and Joey Lucchesi, people don’t pick them up very well. They’re both unique looks. They weren’t comfortable at-bats. … It doesn’t look any different than the minor leagues, and they don’t spook. It’s impressive”"

Around the San Diego Padres basepaths.

Shortstop Freddy Galvis had another big day at the plate for the Friars. He raised his spring training average to .375 after a 2-4 day. Galvis drove in three runs, two of them coming on this clutch hit.

The newest Padres’ shortstop has done this a lot throughout the spring. Hard contact ground balls that he sends past a diving infielder. He may just be a rental, but he’ll make his mark on San Diego before his departure.

Finally, this isn’t a typo, Manuel Margot walked three times last night. After a slow start to spring, Margot has been quickly improving over the last three games. With just two weeks left in spring, now is when you want to see hitters pick it up a bit and Margot is doing exactly that.

Next: The Padres Have Stockpiled A Vast Amount Of Young Arms

The Padres return to TV action today at 1 pm PT. Chris Young and Luis Perdomo are scheduled to take the mound as the Friars take on the Kansas City Royals on Fox Sports San Diego. Both are vying for a rotation spot, with Chris Young gaining momentum on winning the job.