Padres manager Bob Melvin has been saying for a while now he expects some of his hitters to get back on track. Jake Cronenworth is fulfilling that prophecy.
The All-Star infielder hit another home run and drove in four to spark a 6-4 win over the Brewers on Sunday afternoon in Wisconsin, giving the Padres a series victory over 1st-place Milwaukee.
Mike Clevinger made his return from another 15-day IL stint with a triceps issue. Kolten Wong greeted him with a leadoff home run to put the Brewers on top 1-0. After that Clevinger was not too shabby.
The righty with the luxurious locks didn't allow another run and struck out five in 3.0 innings. He was removed after throwing 60 pitches and hopefully doesn't experience another setback in the coming days.
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San Diego got three runs in the 5th inning off Brewers starter and former Friar Eric Lauer. Trent Grisham, who's shown signs recently of breaking out of a season-long slump, led off with a ground rule double. Jose Azocar hit a grounder to 1st baseman Rowdy Tellez, who threw behind Grisham and looked to have the Padres centerfielder caught in no-man's land but shortstop Pablo Reyes dropped the ball and Grisham was safe at 3rd.
Jurickson Profar followed with a bloop single to right field to bring in Grisham and tie it up 1-1. Jake Cronenworth then plated Azocar with an RBI single and Luke Voit's groundout scored Profar to make it 3-1. It wasn't the kind of inning that puts stress on a pitcher, and the kind of inning the Padres have not had nearly enough of this year.
Meanwhile, Nick Martinez was cruising along. The starter followed Clevinger in a kind of piggyback situation. He threw 4.0 innings of shutout ball but ran into trouble in the 8th. Torres led off with a single to bring up Wong, who launched his 2nd home run of the day to right field to tie it at 3-3.
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Milwaukee had a chance to get another one in the inning. Robert Suarez had one of his shaky outings, walking two and allowing a hit to load the bases with two outs. Tim Hill came on to get Jace Peterson to pop out to shortstop and end the threat.
Hill also took care of a scoreless 9th inning to force extras and ended up getting himself a win, thanks to Cronenworth. After Profar led off the 10th inning with a single Jake smoked his 5th home run and 2nd in two days, a 3-run blast over the right field wall. Closer Taylor Rogers, who blew the save on Thursday night, gave up one hit but got Tellez to ground into a double play to end it.
San Diego finishes a 7-game road trip through St. Louis and Milwaukee 3-4, their first losing trip, but after starting it getting swept by the Cardinals they'll take it The Padres start a 3-game set against the NL East-leading Mets on Monday night at Petco Park with Blake Snell on the mound against Carlos Carrasco.
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