San Diego Padres: Top 5 Individual World Series Performances

The San Diego Padres don’t have many World Series moments, but there have been a number of really impressive ones.

Game one of the 2018 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox provided a number of fireworks to kick off the Fall Classic (do I have to ask who San Diego Padres fans are cheering for?). Surprisingly, those fireworks didn’t come from either Clayton Kershaw or Chris Sale, one of the most dynamic starting pitching matchups to ever start a World Series game. It was Andrew Benintendi‘s four-hit performance and a pinch-hit three-run home run from Eduardo Nunez that stole the show.

As game two gets underway, let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at some of the most impressive statistical performances from 1984 and 1998, the two seasons in which the San Diego Padres represented the National League in the World Series. These moments are in no particular order.

1984: San Diego Padres 1, Detroit Tigers 4

1) Andy Hawkins goes 5+ innings of near no-hit ball. 

After pitching 2.2 innings (1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 0 K) in a game one loss to the Tigers, Andy Hawkins was quickly called into action the next night in game two, securing the first and only win in San Diego Padres World Series history.

After giving up three runs on five hits within the first 2/3 of an inning, Ed Whitson gave way to Hawkins to try and stop the bleeding. Hawkins did just that, giving up no runs on one hit across 5.1 innings. He struck out three and did not give up a single walk.

2) Kurt Bevacqua’s home run seals the deal

While Andy Hawkins was twirling a dominant performance, Kurt Bevacqua was placing the exclamation point on game two of the 1984 World Series. Bevacqua went 3-4 in the contest, scoring two runs and driving in three, including a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the Padres up 5-3. San Diego would hold that lead through the rest of the game, staying pace with Detroit at one game apiece in the series.

3) Craig Lefferts puts in three dominant relief outings. 

In just his second season in the big leagues, Craig Lefferts threw six-combined shutout innings across three outings. He allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out seven. His seven strikeouts are tied for the second-most in franchise World Series history, behind Kevin Brown and his 13 strikeouts in the 1998 World Series (Sterling Hitchcock also recorded seven punchouts).

1998: San Diego Padres 0, New York Yankees 4

4) Greg Vaughn and Tony Gwynn have fun against David Wells.

The Padres may have been swept in the 1998 World Series, but there were plenty of memorable moments, including an explosive Game One against David Wells. Wells was coming off an 18-4, 3.49 ERA regular season with the Yankees and went a perfect 4-0 in the postseason, but not before Greg Vaughn and Tony Gwynn made life a little difficult.

Before ultimately falling 9-6, the Padres duo combined to go 5-8 at the plate with four runs scored, five runs driven in, and three home runs, all of Wells.

5) Tony Gwynn challenges the MVP, Scott Brosius

Any time you can talk about Tony Gwynn is a happy time, so we’re adding him to this list again. Despite winning the 1998 World Series MVP Award, Scott Brosius wasn’t the best hitter in this series. The numbers were pretty close, but this is a Padres list so we’re going to give Gwynn the advantage.

Gwynn finished the four-game set with a .500/.529/.688/1.217 slash line, eight hits, two runs scored, one home run, three runs driven in, three walks, and zero strikeouts.