Players of the game: San Diego Padres take series against the Rockies

The San Diego Padres won their first series since the All-Star break in a close battle against the Colorado Rockies. They’ll go for the sweep on Sunday.

After winning two games in a row for the first time in over a month, the San Diego Padres made it three straight on Saturday evening in a close match up with the Colorado Rockies.

Finally, the Padres have won a series in the second half of the season.

The Rockies came to Petco Park for a battle of the bottom-feeders, as both teams had traded positions in the National League West cellar over the past couple weeks.

Tonight, the Friars said “enough.”

We finally saw a glimpse of what made this team so fun to watch in the first half of 2019 — offensive fireworks, strong rookie pitching, and straight up fun on the field. The Padres out-hit the Rockies 11-8 and in a see-saw game with several lead changes and tied innings, San Diego finally emerged victorious in a close battle.

There were several clutch players in this game. Fernando Tatis Jr. extended his hitting streak to 14 consecutive games while Kirby Yates earned his 33rd save of the season. It was his first save opportunity at home since July 13 against the Atlanta Braves. 

Amidst a great team win, here’s our top three players of the game.

Hunter Renfroe

All eyes have been on Hunter Renfroe since Franmil Reyes was traded to the Cleveland Indians in the big three-way deal. Between the two right-handed power-hitting outfielders, the Padres thought Renfroe was the right choice.

The stats back it up, at least on defense. Renfroe has a 4.6 DEF, 8.5 UZR, and league-leading 22 defensive runs saved for all outfielders. In comparison, Reyes has a -7.5 DEF, -3.1 UZR, and -10 DRS.

The question revolved more around the offensive side of the ball, as Reyes is younger than Renfroe with perhaps a higher ceiling. Renfroe had been pretty quiet since the trade too, going .205/.238/.359  in the last two weeks up until tonight.

Well, he went 3-for-3 on Saturday evening with a three runs scored, a home run, and an RBI double. Hopefully this is the start of another hot streak as he has five hits in seven at-bats over the last two days.

The Padres and Renfroe have a mutual interest in his success, so he’ll get as many reps as possible moving forward.

Manuel Margot

This season’s center fielder, Manuel Margot has had a pretty nice year offensively owning a .246/.324/.414 in 2019. He’s got the hot bat too, hitting for a .300 BA in eight games through August before tonight.

Margot finished the evening 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including a clutch two-run go-ahead homer in the bottom of the eighth. Coming into this home series against the Rockies, Margot had only eight home runs to his name on the season. He’s had two in this series alone with the final game tomorrow.

Overall, Margot has filled in nicely in the center field spot, which had been a concerning position of need before Taylor Trammell joined the organization. He’s fighting to cement his place in the lineup — he’s earned it thus far.

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• Fernando Tatis Jr. may not take to outfield move after Xander Bogaerts addition
• Padres News: Fernando Tatis Jr. trade rumors, Seth Lugo chase, Manny Machado
• Padres barely missed out on high-end veteran starting pitcher

Chris Paddack

Chris Paddack had another strong outing despite some errors from his defense. He allowed three runs off five hits through six innings, striking out five batters and walking one.

While all three runs were earned, he could’ve had a strong argument for the last one being unearned.

With two outs and a runner on second, Nolan Arenado hit a pop-up blooper that fell between Luis Urías and Renfroe. It was clear miscommunication between the two that should’ve ended the sixth inning, but instead was marked as an RBI single.

Paddack recovered strongly though. After allowing a walk, Raimel Tapia came up to bat and hit a sharp grounder to Tatis Jr., who threw an errant ball to Eric Hosmer to load the bases. Paddack forced another ground ball, this time to second base, to end the inning as well as his evening.

The Sheriff now has a 3.27 ERA and 0.936 WHIP through 110.1 innings pitched. He’s had a strong rookie campaign but has been up and down in his past few outings; hopefully his consistency will develop as he gets more starts, but for now he looks like the real deal.

Dinelson Lamet and the Padres will go for the sweep on Sunday. The game will begin at 12:40 PM PT/3:40 PM ET.

For complete coverage of the San Diego Padres 2019 season, be sure to visit Friars on Base all season long.