Padres Punch Through, Defeat Dbacks 6-2

A well pitched game spoiled by 8th inning bullpen meltdown

By Jack Sommers Aug 8, 2021, 12:15am EDT

Arizona Diamondbacks v San Diego Padres — Joe Mantiply Walks in a Run

Record: 35-77, Pace, 50-112

The Padres broke through in the 8th inning against the Diamondbacks bullpen, sending 9 men to the plate and turning a 2-2 tie into a 6-2 loss for Arizona.

Taylor Widener got the start and pitched well, delivering 5 innings and allowing two runs on solo homers to Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer. Widener struck out 7 and walked just two batteers. Tyler Gilbert pitched two scoreless innings, working out of trouble in 7th. But Brett de Gues and Joe Mantiply combined to surrender 4 runs in the ill fated 8th.

Yu Darvish was dominant, striking out 12 batters in 7 innings while not walking a batter and giving up just 4 hits. He made one mistake to Christian Walker that got hit for a two run homer. Other than that the D-backs only had one runner in scoring position the rest of the night. The Padres bullpen had no issues closing out the last two scoreless innings.

Here is your inning by inning breakdown:

T-1: The Dbacks go down in order as VanMeter and Smith strikeout swinging and Cabrera rolls it over to 2b. Darvish threw just 10 pitches, 7 for strikes.

B-1: With two outs and nobody on Machado fouled off a bunch of pitches for Widener and on pitch #9 crushed a cement mixer slider to deep left and a 1-0 San Diego lead.

T-2: Kole Calhoun lead off with a base hit, and one out later Christian Walker crushed a fastball off the facing of the upper deck in left center field to give the D-backs a 2-1 lead. Yu recorded 3 strikeouts in the inning and 5^th of the game

B-2: Eric Hosmer crushed the first pitch he saw from Widener into the right field bleachers just inside the foul pole to tie the game up at 2 a piece. From there Widener worked around a Hit By Pitch of Grisham to get through the inning without any further damage.

T-3: After two more strikeouts for Darvish, (7 overall), Pavin Smith battled for 9 pitches before grounding out to first. Still 2-2 ballgame

B-3: Tommy Pham ripped another hanging slider from Widener 109 off the bat into left and past the outstretched glove of Peralta for a double. But he got Adam Frazier to ground out to 2^nd and struck out Machado and Cronenworth to end the threat. Taylor is at 55 pitches through three.

T-4: Two more K’s for Darvish, a single up the middle for Peralta, but nothing else. With 9K’s through 4 and 57 pitches thrown it will be interesting to see how many he gets. His season high is 12.

B-4: Widener loaded the bases with nobody out on two walks and a single, but got Caratini to pop out and Darvish hit into a 4-6-3 double player to get him out of it. Widener is at 75 pitches.

T-5: Two more K’s or Darvish, 11 through 5. Still 2-2 tie.

B-5: 3^rd time through the order and Widener works his first 1-2-3 against the top of the Padres lineup. His most impressive inning, he struck out Pham and then Machado for the 2^nd time. 89 pitches in total. Does Torey let him come back out for the 6^th?

T-6: Another 1-2-3 inning for Darvish. Smith was his 12^th strikeout victim. Darvish at 82 pitches.

B-6: Torey went to the pen, bringing in lefty Tyler Gilbert to start the 6^th. Gilbert is making just his 3^rd big league appearance. A tapper to first by Cronenworth and a flip by Walker to Gilbert resulted in an out on the first pitch. Originally ruled safe, it was overturned on replay. A groundout and a K looking for Myers followed and Gilbert had a 1-2-3 inning of his own.

T-7: Calhoun knocked a base hit to right, his second leadoff single of the game. Peralta tapped into a 4-6 force out, and barely beat a high throw to 1^st to avoid the double play. Walker popped out to shallow left and Varsho grounded out to short. Pfft. It was the first inning Darvish didn’t have a K. Still a 2-2 tie.

B-7: Grisham singled to left to start the 7^th. Caratini struck out on 3 pitches and in stepped pinch hitter Ha-Seong Kim, ending Darvish’s night. Kim fouled off a bunch of pitches, and finally drew a walk on the 10^th pitch of the at bat. But Gilbert got Pham to tap back to the mound and he spun and threw to Josh VanMeter covering the bag who tossed it on to 1^st to complete the 1-4-3 double play and a second scoreless inning for Gilbert.

T-8: Lefty Drew Pomeranz relieved Darvish. Machado made a nice bare-handed play and throw on a chopper to nail Ahmed at first. Ketel Marte pinch hit and drove a high fly to the track in right for the 2^nd out. VanMeter “singled” under Machado’s glove into left. Carson Kelly pinch hit for Pavin Smith. On the 7^th pitch of the at bat VanMeter took off for second but Pomeranz threw over to first and Hosmer got it Adam Frazier to nail JVM and end the inning.

B-8: Brett de Gues pitching the 8^th. Frazier lined a single to center. Marte got a poor jump and the ball bounced right in front of him and he had to field it on a short hop. Frazier got a great jump and stole 2^nd on a called strike to Machado. He promptly dunked the 0-2 pitch into center scoring Frazier and giving the Padres the 3-2 lead. de Gues threw wild to first on a pickoff, despite Manny being on the bag at the time, allowing Machado to advance to 2nd and the meltdown was fully underway. Cronenworth was intentionally walked and that was all for de Gues. Joe Mantiply came iin and struck out Hosmer. But a single by Wil Myers loaded the bases, and then Trent Grisham drew a bases loaded walk. Pinch hitter Austin Nola singled on a ground ball into right scoring two more runs, and the Padres owned a 6-2 lead.

T-9: Mark Melancon on to close it out for San Diego in a non save situation. He walks Drew Ellis to start the inning. Cabrera hit into a 3-6-1 double play however and Calhoun bounced out to 2nd to end the game.

I don’t think I’m going to hang around for the post game presser. What’s Torey going to say that we don’t already know or haven’t already heard dozens of times over this year when the bullpen blows open a game.

Fangraphs Box Score and Win Probability