It was yet another game in which the Padre offense struggled to score, but sometimes one is enough and that was the case at Petco Park Wednesday.
The San Diego Padres squeezed out a 1-0 win against the Atlanta Braves to end a 3-game losing streak.
In the previous three games of this series against Atlanta, the Padres were shutout twice and scored once in the other game. Including Wednesdays win, that's just 2 runs in the last 36 innings.
The lack of production at the plate and inability to score runs as been a problem this season, but help is on the way.
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Fernando Tatis Jr. returns from his 80-game steroid suspension Thursday. Tatis, who was an offensive machine at Triple A El Paso while ramping up for MLB action, is expected to bat lead off and provide a boost to the Padres offense.
The Padres lone run on Wednesday came via 431 foot home run to right-center by Juan Soto. The 4th inning shot was Soto's 4th home run of the season.
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That lone run stood up thanks to prime Padre pitching and some dandy defense.
Starting pitcher Nick Martinez worked 7 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts, while 3 Padre relievers finished off the game. Josh Haeder pitched the 9th for this 5th save of the season.
On defense, Manny Machado made 2 Gold Glove worthy plays and Jake Cronenworth's spinning, sliding grab of what appeared to a RBI single, prevented the tying run from scoring in the 8th inning.
Next up for the Padres is a Thursday road game at Arizona. With the return of Tatis, the actual game may take a back seat to all the controversy and excitement that will come with one of the baseball's biggest stars being back in a Major League game.
