Padres closer Craig Kimbrel does not even own a batting helmet.
He had to borrow Tyson Ross’s to make his first MLB appearance at the plate.
After fouling off one pitch against Arizona reliever Josh Collmenter, Kimbrel wound up striking out looking.
Kimbrel knows a thing or two about called 3rd strikes. Mr. K struck out the side in the 9th to earn his 37th save and finish off a 4-out save against the Diamondbacks, 4-3.
The victory momentarily delays the inevitable. The Padres are not going to make the postseason barring a miracle.
The Padres will have to go 15-0 to finish the season AND see the Dodgers lose all of their remaining 17 regular season games to force a playoff to win the NL West division.
The Dodgers have 84 victories entering Thursday and the Padres would have to win out to tie them with 84 wins after improving to 69-78 Wednesday evening. If that actually happened, the Giants would also have to nosedive down the stretch as they currently reside in 2nd place.
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The Cubs eliminated the Padres from the NL Wildcard race when they defeated the Pirates Thursday afternoon 9-6. That was the Cubs' 85th win of the year and the best San Diego can do as of Thursday is finish 84-78.
Andrew Cashner cruised through 7 innings allowing only 2 runs and striking out 6. He improved to 6-and-15 on the year.
Matt Kemp raised his RBI total to 97 by crushing a clutch 3-run bomb in the 5th. His 22nd homer of the season helped propel the Padres to a 4-2 lead.
Kimbrel and Joaquin Benoit finished the job on the mound after Cashner’s solid outing.
The Padres are off Thursday and fly to Denver. Ian Kennedy will oppose Chad Bettis on the mound in Friday's series opener against the Rockies
