Put big leaguers in a stadium 7,349 feet above sea level and you're going to get some wild numbers. The Padres and Giants are proof positive.
The first MLB game ever played in Mexico City featured 11 home runs hit by 10 different players, 27 total runs, and 30 total hits. So, it makes perfect sense that the guy who threw the fewest pitches is the one who got the win.
The Padres outslugged the Giants 16-11 in a back-and-forth affair on Saturday afternoon at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu. The Padres got out to a 5-1 lead against former Friar Sean Manaea. Nelson Cruz drove in three of them, one coming on a solo home run to make him, at the age of 42, the oldest Padre ever to hit a homer. The Giants bats soon went bonkers, scoring seven runs in 3.1 innings against Joe Mugrove to take an 8-5 lead.
But, finally, San Diego's big boppers showed up. Juan Soto and Xander Bogaerts hit back-to-back homers in the 4th inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado hit back-to-back homers in the 5th inning to put the Padres back on top but in this environment no lead is safe.
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San Francisco got a pair of bombs from Blake Sabol and David Villar in the 7th to regain the lead 11-10. Padres skipper Bob Melvin turned to Tom Cosgrove, making his Major League debut in the worst pitching conditions imaginable. The lefty threw four pitches, got Joc Pederson to ground out, then sat back and enjoyed his first big league win.
In the bottom half of the inning Machado homered again, a 2-run blast that reignited the Padres offense. Trent Grisham doubled home two runs and Cruz brought in two more on a single, his 5th hit of the game. That was plenty for Nick Martinez, who was absolutely lights out at altitude. Martinez struck out five of the six hitters he faced to earn a 2-inning save.
These teams get one more outing in the thin air on Sunday afternoon with Yu Darvish on the mound against Alex Cobb.
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