San Diego Padres: Five Most Dominant Pitching Performances At Petco Park

We’re taking a look at the top five most dominant pitching performances by San Diego Padres pitchers at Petco Park.

The San Diego Padres have had a few dominant pitching performances this season, like Jordan Lyles and Clayton Richard‘s brush with no-hit history, however, neither performance ranks near the top of the list of best pitching performances in the history of Petco Park.

This isn’t a look at top performances all-time, just since the opening of Petco Park back in 2004. The list is based on Game Score points, as determined by Baseball Reference. Unfortunately, the top two performances on the list aren’t former or current Padres pitchers.

Not to bring up old wounds, Tim Lincecum (7/13/2003) and Jordan Zimmerman (6/8/2014) have the top game scores in Petco Park history. Each threw shutouts, with Lincecum’s being the infamous no-hitter.

Let’s move past the bad and take a trip down memory lane, looking at the best pitching moments from Padres pitchers at home.

#5) 9/15/2014- Andrew Cashner Shuts Out The Phillies.

Andrew Cashner‘s shutout performance against Philadelphia comes in at number five on our list, earning a game score of 89. Casner needed just two hours and nine minutes and 92 pitches to throw nine innings of two-hit baseball. He walked just one and struck out seven, out-dueling Phillies’ starter, Jerome Williams.

There’s a good chance many of you didn’t watch this September game between two 80-loss teams. An error by Philadelphia third baseman Cody Asche on a Cashner groundball allowed the only run of the game to score, giving the Padres a 1-0 win.

Cashner received just three base hits from his offense, a double by Rene Rivera and singles by Jedd Gyorko and Yangervis Solarte.

His performance ranks 8th overall in Petco history, behind the top performances mentioned above, the next four Padres’ performances we will discuss after this, and a two-hit shutout by Randy Johnson back in 2004.

#4) 7/2/2014- Tyson Ross Goes The Distance In Three-Hit Shutout

Tyson Ross climbed the mound on a Wednesday afternoon back in 2014 to take on the Cincinnati Reds, backed by an infield consisting of Tommy Medica and Irving Falu. That didn’t matter to Ross, who allowed just three hits and did not issue a single free pass. He struck out nine hitters on the afternoon, leading the Padres to a 3-0 victory, their 38th win of the season.

A two-out, bases loaded single by Rene Rivera scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, as both teams failed to score for the remainder of the game. After the rocky first inning, Johnny Cueto settled down for six-shutout innings, striking out eight San Diego hitters.

It was the seventh victory of the season for Ross, who saw his ERA lower to 2.93. He threw 120 pitches, 87 of them for strikes.

#3 and #2) 6/20/2005 and 9/2/2006- Jake Peavy With 27 Strikeouts Across Two Outings

The San Diego Padres career strikeout leader has thrown two of the most dominant starts in Petco Park history, including the only eight-inning start within the top 12 performances.

We’ll start with that outing, pitched on June 20th in front of nearly 42,000 fans on a Monday evening. The 38-31 Padres took down the Los Angeles Dodgers, as Jake Peavy went eight innings, giving up just two hits and one walk while striking out 13.

Peavy took a perfect game into the fifth inning, before giving up a one-out single to Olmedo Saenz. The only other hit Peavy gave up on the evening was a double to the opposing pitcher, Brad Penny. As with the case in most of the games on this list, the Padres offense provided little support for Peavy, outside of a 3-3 day at the plate from Brian Giles, who was credited with the only RBI of the game.

Peavy was pulled after 124 pitches, giving way to future Hall of Famer, Trevor Hoffman, who closed the door on the Padres 39th win of the season and his 18th save up to that point.

Just over a year later, Peavy tossed the second top performance on this list, a complete game victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

He allowed two hits, one earned run (a solo HR by Adam Dunn), and two walks, while striking out 14 hitters. Reds’ leadoff hitter Ryan Freel finished the night 0-4 with four strikeouts.

His 14 strikeouts are tied with Dan Straily (Miami) and the late Roy Halladay (Phillies) for the second most strikeouts in a game by one pitcher at Petco Park. You get one guess as to who holds the record….yep, it’s Jake Peavy. Peavy struck out 16 hitters on May 22nd, 2006, falling to John Smoltz and the Atlanta Braves.