The Padres lost starting pitcher Andrew Cashner to another stint on the disabled list on Monday. Cashner's right (pitching) shoulder is sore, so he's being shut down for a little while.
Cashner was supposed to start the first game of a 3-game set in San Francisco against the Giants. Instead, the Padres reached in to the minor league system to get Odrisamer Despaigne (phonetically pronounced O-DREE-SA-MEHR DES-PAWN-YAY), a 27-year-old Cuban who defected last year and was signed by the Padres in May.
Despaigne only made seven starts in the minors, but after playing eight years in Cuba's professional leagues, he was more than ready for The Show.
In his MLB debut, Despaigne went seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits. He only struck out one batter, getting 12 fly ball outs and eight on grounders.
I just hope he doesn't get used to the kind of run support he saw on Monday night.
The Padres broke character and scored six times. In the 4th inning, Yasmani Grandal hit a blast to right-center field that was initially ruled a 3-run home run off Matt Cain. However, Giants manager Bruce Bochy appealed and reviews showed a fan reached over the wall, in to the field of play, to make the catch, making it a ground rule double.
Seth Smith was running from first base and, even if the ball had hit the wall and come down to centerfielder Hunter Pence, would have scored easily. The replay umps in New York didn't see it that way, so they put Smith back on 3rd base.
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That little development made Padres manager Bud Black go bonkers.
Black leaped out of the dugout and in to the face of crew chief Brian O'Nora, who hesitated all of five seconds before ejecting Black. Buddy continued to voice his displeasure, and given how dismal his offense has been this season it's easy to understand why.
Luckily for the Padres, the runs scored anyway. Tommy Medica followed Grandal's double with a double of his own, a laser down the left field line that leaping Giants 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval could not quite reach.
The Padres scored three more runs in the 8th inning on an Everth Cabrera RBI single and a Seth Smith RBI double.
On Tuesday the Padres send another rookie, Jesse Hahn, to the mound against veteran Tim Hudson.
