Padres Get Help From Umpires in Win

Interesting call, strong bullpen give Friars a win in Philly

The Padres followed an old script against the Phillies on Monday afternoon: score just a few runs and let a dominant bullpen lock it down.

The Friars beat Philly 4-3 in the Phillies’ home opener at Citizens Bank Park. Starting pitcher Andrew Cashner has a bit of a rough outing, allowing three runs in 5.0 innings, but his bullpen looked every bit as tough as we’ve come to expect a Padres bullpen to look.

Brad Hand, Kevin Quackenbush, Carlos Villanueva, Brandon Maurer and Fernando Rodney (who earned his first save as the Padres closer) combined to throw 4.0 innings of shutout baseball to preserve the W. The only hit the Phillies mustered came in the 9th inning off Rodney and was erased on a double play ball.

As for the offense, the first run was provided by a very fitting source. John Jay is one of the most influential members of that group known as “America’s Founding Fathers.” However, he did not sign the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. The way Jon Jay has been playing he’ll be signing a lot of baseballs in Philadelphia.

Jay got the Padres on the board in the 3rd inning with another base hit, an RBI single to give the Friars a 1-0 lead. Jay has a hit in all seven games he’s played in a San Diego uniform.

The Padres got another run in the 3rd when Alexi Amarista scored on a Cory Spangenberg groundout. Just one inning later Wil Myers went big fly with a line shot to the left-centerfield bleachers off Phillies starter Aaron Nola. It was Myers’ second home run of the season.

The Phillies tied it with a trio of runs and could have taken the lead if not for a curious call from the officiating crew. With the bases loaded and nobody out Darin Ruf hit a fly ball to shallow left field. The third base umpire called a suspect infield fly rule so the batter was out even though left fielder Wil Myers and shortstop Alexei Ramirez had trouble finding the baseball and it fell between them.

The Phillies runners saw the ball drop and ran even though they did not have to. Ramirez threw to Alexi Amarista at 3rd base to tag Odubel Herrera for a double play that helped the Padres escape with no further damage being done.

In the top of the 7th the Padres took the lead for good when Amarista laid down a squeeze bunt, allowing catcher Derek Norris to score what turned out to be the winning run.

The Padres improve to 3-4 on the season and can get back to .500 with a win in Philly on Tuesday when Robbie Erlin makes his first start of 2016 against Charlie Morton. Erlin is temporarily taking the rotation spot of Tyson Ross, who is on the 15-day disabled list with inflammation in his pitching shoulder.

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