You had to figure if the Padres were ever going to win a game on a Sunday they were going to do it on Father’s Day. San Diego came in to their series finale against the Nationals 0-10 on Sundays in 2016. Finally, the long regional nightmare is over.
The Padres beat the Nationals 6-3 at Petco Park, splitting their 4-game set with the National League East leaders.
The first pitch was delivered at 1:41 p.m. The Padres were trailing by 1:41 and 15 seconds. Michael Taylor hammered the first offering of the game from Drew Pomeranz in to the left field seats to put the Nationals up 1-0. Taylor had four hits, including two home runs, for the first multi-homer game of his career.
San Diego got the run right back in the bottom half when Wil Myers continued his recent hot streak with a line drive single to centerfield. He scored two batters later on a single by Yangervis Solarte. In the 4th inning the Padres took their first lead when Adam Rosales, starting at 2nd base against Washington lefty Gio Gonzalez, ripped a double to left-centerfield to bring home Melvin Upton Jr. and Derek Norris.
The 3-1 lead was erased immediately. Danny Espinosa and Taylor both took Pomeranz deep in the 5th to tie it up again. Just like they did in the first inning, the Padres answered immediately. Norris hit a sacrifice fly to left to bring in Solarte and Alexei Ramirez lined a single to center to score Upton and put San Diego up 5-3.
The Friars got another run in the 6th on an RBI single by Matt Kemp, securing a win for Pomeranz, who went 6.0 innings and only gave up the three solo homers while punching out seven.
Carlos Villanueva and Ryan Buchter threw scoreless innings, setting the stage for Fernando Rodney to work another 1-2-3 inning for his 14th save. Rodney still has not allowed an earned run in 2016.
There is a small damper on the win, though. Centerfielder Jon Jay was hit on the forearm with a pitch and had to leave the game with a contusion. Manager Andy Green said x-rays were negative so Jay is not a DL candidate at the moment.
The Padres have a day off on Monday then start a short 2-game set in Baltimore against the Orioles on Tuesday.
