On Sunday at Petco Park the Padres had a pair of leads against the Tigers but lost them both. Detroit was only on top once but they made it count, scoring a pair of runs in the 9th inning to avoid a sweep with a 7-5 win.
The Padres got on the board in the first inning when Wil Myers hammered his 15th home run of the season off Tigers starter Jordan Zimmermann. San Diego scored again in the 2nd inning on a solo shot from Erick Aybar, a single by Hunter Renfroe and a triple by Matt Szczur that increased the lead to 3-0.
In the 4th inning Padres lefty Clayton Richard started to leak oil. Detroit got on the board, scoring three runs on two doubles, a triple and single to tie the game 3-3.
The Padres got two of those runs back in the bottom half. Richard dropped down a safety squeeze to bring in Aybar and make it 4-2. Jose Pirela followed with a ground-rule double to plate Renfroe and San Diego was up 5-3.
But in the 6th inning Richard had trouble keeping the ball in the park. Nicholas Castellanos ripped a 2-run shot to the opposite field and it was knotted 5-5. This situation would normally favor the Padres since Detroit has the worst bullpen ERA in Major League Baseball.
But this time it was the San Diego relievers (ranked 24th in baseball in ERA) that gave it up. In the 9th inning Brandon Maurer gave up double to Ian Kinsler then walked Justin Upton, who both moved up on a dribbler by J.D Martinez. Both runners scored on a single on a 3-2 pitch by Mikie Mahtook to bring in the game-winning runs.
San Diego takes Monday off then starts a 3-game set at Petco Park against the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday.
