Padres: Winners and losers in exhibition loss to Angels

The Padres faced another team for the first time since spring training. Who had strong performances and who needs work?

While it was refreshing to see the San Diego Padres play someone other than themselves, they struggled to get anything going offensively against Angels starter Griffin Canning. The Angels hurler looked dominant, fanning five batters over six innings while allowing just three hits. Those hits came via an infield single from Fernando Tatis Jr., an Edward Olivares double down the right-field line, and an Eric Hosmer base hit into centerfield.

With the intrasquad matchups being limited from an innings perspective, the goal was for the Padres and Angels to go all nine as well as trying out the extra-innings rules. Let’s look at a few of the winners and losers from the contest.

Winner: Garrett Richards

After struggling a bit in the first inning, highlighted by a throwing error by Richards himself led to the Angels lone run of the game, the former Halo’s hurler settled down. Over 4.2 innings, Richards fanned five batters, throwing 51 of 79 pitches for strikes.

Winner: Emilio Pagan

Pagan was able to show how dominant he can be, needing just 11 pitches to get through the seventh inning, including this 95 MPH fastball for the punchout.

Winner: Drew Pomeranz

Pomeranz had perhaps the best strikeout of the evening, making Mike Trout look silly in the eighth inning. He followed that with a four-pitch walk to Tommy La Stella and got away with less than stellar command, throwing just seven of his 16 pitches for strikes. Still, that strikeout of Trout was impressive.

Losers: Austin Hedges

Rinse and repeat, right? Hedges had a single in the game and also threw out Trout, who was trying to steal third base. However, his pitch selection needs a ton of work, as he watched several fastballs right down the middle go by. Then he offered at pitches in the dirt, resulting in two strikeouts.

Losers: Edward Olivares

I think we’ll have to pump the brakes on the expectations for Olivares this season. Yes, he poked a ball down the right-field line, hustling to second on the play. However, he looked overmatched against Canning, fanning twice. He’s a work in progress, and so far, the positives have outweighed the negatives.

What’s next

The Padres will travel to Anaheim tomorrow to face the Angels again as their final tuneup before Opening Day on Friday.