The Padres are the Michael Myers of Major League Baseball. No matter how many times you think you've got them beat they just keep coming back.
It happened again on Saturday in an 11-8 win over the Astros that went 12 innings in Houston.
Yu Darvish got the start and was not as sharp as we're used to seeing him. The Padres ace allowed five runs (four earned), two of them on a home run to Carlos Correa, and walked three in 5.0 innings. Houston took a 6-1 lead to the 8th inning. Normally, that's enough to close a team out.
San Diego is not a normal team.
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Eric Hosmer drove in a run with an RBI single and Wil Myers brought in another one when he beat out an infield single to cut the lead to 6-3. Astros closer Ryan Pressley got the first two outs then committed a major pitching sin.
He walked Manny Machado with two outs. Two-out walks are bad.
Jake Cronenworth followed with a double to bring up Fernando Tatis Jr., not the guy Houston wanted to see in a big spot. Tatis hit a pop-up down the first base line, a play that should have been easy to make. It wasn't.
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Astros 1st baseman Taylor Jones overran it, the ball fell behind him, and Tatis had another chance. That's all he needed.
On the very next pitch El Nino hit a mammoth home run up onto the train tracks down the left field line at Minute Maid Park. It left the bat at 114.9 MPH and went 448 feet, the kind of homer that would even be impressive in a home run derby.
Both teams scored a run in the 10th so they played on. Both teams scored a run in the 11th so they played on.
In the 12th Houston skipper Dusty Baker decided to walk Fernando Tatis Jr. to put a pair of runners on. The move backfired. Wil Myers hit an opposite field, 3-run home run that finally was too much of a deficit to overcome.
Miguel Diaz handled the bottom of the 12th to get the save. The Padres can sweep the series on Sunday afternoon behind Blake Snell, and they could really use a long outing from him. San Diego's bullpen has thrown 24.2 innings over the last four days.
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