San Diego Padres: Bullpen Appears To Be Shaping Up

The San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds battled to a 10-inning, 3-3 tie last night in a non-televised Cactus League game.

Another spring training tie, another non-televised contest. The San Diego Padres managed just five hits last night, ending the game in a 3-3 tie against Billy Hamilton and the Cincinnati Reds.

After a blazing start to spring training, the Padres’ offense has since gone quiet. Collectively, the Friars stuck out 13 times while contributing only five hits and one walk. The lone walk was worked by Manuel Margot, giving him eight on the spring. If you are to take stock in a spring training stat, it’s walk and strikeout rate. Margot now has eight walks in limited action. In 126 regular season games last year, he walked only 35 times.

Two of the Padres’ five hits came from Jose Pirela who’s now hitting .452 with a 1.234 OPS. Pirela is making Andy Green‘s job a little easier, leaving him no option but to have Pirela in the starting lineup come Opening Day.

Tuesday night’s starter Dinelson Lamet was highly impressive in his 5 2/3 innings of work. Lamet sat down seven Reds’ hitters and allowed just one run in his longest outing of the spring. I have a full-length piece on Lamet scheduled to go right after this post and urge you to check that out. He may be everyone’s favorite starting pitcher once the regular season gets rolling.

After struggling early on, the San Diego bullpen has been nothing short of dominant. Over 4 2/3 innings, Buddy Baumann, Carter Capps, Brad Hand, Kasuhisa Makita, and Adam Cimber combined to give up just two hits and no runs. Cimber now has eight shutout innings under his belt and has done everything possible to earn a bullpen spot for Andy Green.

We learned yesterday that OF Alex Dickerson will have Tommy John surgery and miss the entire 2018 season. Injuries have derailed Dickerson’s career as his time in San Diego appears to be over. The injury does clear up a 40-man roster spot, which will come in handy with crowded outfield and bullpen competitions still yet to be determined.

Next: Padres Hoping Bryan Mitchell Has Figured It Out

The Padres return to TV today, however, fans will have to watch on MLB.TV as NBC Chicago is the only station playing the 1 pm PT contest. Luis Perdomo and Chris Young will continue their battle for a rotation spot, both are scheduled to pitch today.