It’s going to happen, folks. Someday it’s going to happen.
At some point, the Padres will have someone throw a no-hitter. This season they've seen Tyson Ross and Jordan Lyles both take a no-no into the 8th inning before losing it. On Saturday another veteran flirted with history en route to the latest Friars win.
Lefty Clayton Richard lost his no-hit bid in the seventh inning of a 3-1 win over the Marlins in Miami. The victory clinched a fourth-straight series win for the Padres, who won just four of their first 17 series this season.
Richard, as he is known to do, induced a lot of ground balls. He got 11 ground ball outs and struck out five but with two outs in the seventh, one of those ground balls had eyes. Miguel Rojas bounced one up the middle and through to break up the no-hit bid.
J.T Riddle solved Richard with a line drive single to bring in the only run of the game. Those were the only two hits the Padres allowed in the latest start of what has been arguably the best stretch of Richard’s career. That’s seven consecutive outings where Clayton has gone at least 6.0 innings. The Padres have won five of those games.
Offensively the Friars did just enough to get Clayton a "W." In the second inning, Hunter Renfroe doubled, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Freddy Galvis to put the Padres up 1-0.
Their other two runs came on one swing of the bat by Florida native Eric Hosmer, who launched a two-run home run to left-center for his 8th dinger of the season. Over the last week, Hosmer has hit .385 with two homers and five RBI.
After starting the season 10-20 the Padres have climbed within five games of .500 and 5.5 games of first place in the National League West. However, the coming week will not be easy.
San Diego starts a three-game series in St. Louis on Monday then plays four in Atlanta against the first-place Braves. Jordan Lyles gets the start on Monday against Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty.
