2020 Simulated Season: Richards leaves with injury in Padres 6-3 victory

Opening up the first of a three-game virtual series, Padres’ starter Garrett Richards pitched less than an inning before leaving with an injury.

After splitting a four-game series with the Cincinnati Reds, the Padres returned home to open up a virtual three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. In front of 38,500 patrons, Garrett Richards was on the bump for the home team with Madison Bumgarner going for the Diamondbacks.

Richards walked a batter and recorded two outs in the top half of the first inning before leaving with an injury. Per the virtual injury report, he’ll be headed to the injured list for the next 30 days, at least.

Pierce Johnson filled in admirably for Richards, tossing 2.2 innings while striking out three batters and allowing just one walk and a hit. The Padres opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the third inning, and Nick Ahmed responded immediately with a two-run shot off Drew Pomeranz in the top of the fourth inning.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Friars took the lead for good, collecting three hits with key RBI’s coming from Fernando Tatis Jr., Tommy Pham, and Manny Machado in consecutive at-bats.

And unfortunately, Richards was not the only pitcher to sustain an injury, as Jose Castillo left in the 7th inning. Per the virtual postgame presser, he will be placed on the virtual 60-day injured list.

Around the rest of the box score, both Jurickson Profar and Francisco Mejia went 2-4 on the day. Ty France went 1-4 and increased his batting average to .351 on the year. Tatis, who was part of that big rally in the fifth inning, added another RBI to his total and is hitting .313 thus far.

The Padres were excellent with RISP, converting on 5-of-13 chances. Kirby Yates also collected his 16th save of the year, remaining perfect in such attempts.