Austin Hedges is known as one of the best defensive catchers in baseball. On Sunday his glove was the second-best part of his game.
Hedges had four hits, his first career big league 4-hit day, including the game-winning solo home run in a 3-2 Padres win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park that gave the Friars a series win over Philadelphia.
Hedgy also helped starting pitcher Joey Lucchesi put together one of his better starts of the year. Lucchesi got through 6.0 innings on 109 pitches, giving up two runs on three hits with four strikeouts.
Philadelphia scored first on an RBI double by Jean Segura in the 1st inning. Bryce Harper scored to make it 1-0. Harper had a walk and a single against Lucchesi but was replaced in the 6th inning. The Phillies say he was dehydrated and it's nothing serious.
In the 4th inning rookie Luis Urias ripped his 2nd home run of the year to right field, a 2-run shot that put the Padres up 2-1. Urias had two hits and is hitting .320 over his last 15 games.
Segura tied it with another RBI double in the 6th inning and it looked like Lucchesi was going to settle for a no-decision. But in the top of the 7th Hedges pulled a Jared Hughes curve ball over the left field fence for his 9th homer of the year. He also had three singles ... not a bad way to celebrate his 27th birthday. The homer gave the Padres a 3-2 lead and the bullpen made it stand up.
Craig Stammen, Matt Strahm, Andres Munoz and Kirby Yates combined to allow just one more baserunner over the final 3.0 innings. Yates struck out the side in the 9th to earn his National League-leading 35th save.
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The Padres improve their record to 58-65 and start a 3-game series in Cincinnati on Monday. Eric Lauer gets the start against Trevor Bauer.