San Diego Padres: Joey Lucchesi Takes Down The Mets

San Diego Padres rookie LHP Joey Lucchesi churned out his third win of the season while putting on a show for fans at Petco Park.

Joey Lucchesi climbed the mound at Petco Park Saturday night, coming off the worst start of his very young professional career. The San Diego Padres rookie showed that he’s more than capable of putting the past behind him and moving on to the next start.

Lucchesi needed just nine pitches to work through the first inning, striking out Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes in the process. Backed by a 13-hit and 12-run performance by his offense, Lucchesi picked up his third victory of the season in impressive fashion.

Lasting 5.2 innings, Lucchesi gave up just four hits, two earned runs, and two walks while striking out six hitters. Both earned runs came off a Yeonis Cespedes home run in the sixth inning. After responding by forcing Todd Frazier to pop up, Lucchesi surrendered a single to Jay Bruce, putting him at 79 pitches on the night.

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Manager Andy Green then took Lucchesi out of the game, with Amed Rosario coming up to bat, bringing in fellow rookie-sensation, Adam Cimber.

This move was puzzling to many fans watching the game. Why not let the rookie work through his first tough inning, the team was up 11-0 at the time.

Looking back on the move, it was the right one for Green to make. His team was up by 11, so there wasn’t any point in letting Lucchesi run up his pitch count or risk injury.

Lucchesi is the one bright spot in this pitching rotation and the San Diego Padres cannot afford to lose him, especially while pitching in garbage time.

Lucchesi looked to be in cruise control, all night long. As you can see in the video below of each of his strikeouts, Lucchesi did a fantastic job of using all parts of the plate to get hitters swinging. He switched up the eye levels, mixed up his fastball and “churve” up in the zone well, and commanded the arm side half of the plate.

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This pitching staff may not be the most exciting to watch, however, Joey Lucchesi is the real deal. No matter how bad the record gets for the team, Lucchesi’s starts will continue to be can’t miss baseball. He’s “Joey Fuego” and he’s going to be here for a long time.