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The Padres have been trying to find ways to score runs without hitting the ball out of the park. The Padres are 26-18 when they hit a home run and just 2-8 when they don’t.
They strung a few hits together in the 2nd inning on Monday in New York. They just needed to do it in a few more frames.
Half of San Diego’s six knocks came in the 2nd of a 5-2 loss to the Yankees in the Bronx. Hunter Renfroe led off the inning with a single and Wil Myers followed with a walk. As he did on Saturday in Toronto, rookie Josh Naylor got the scoring started with a double to bring in Renfroe that put the Padres up 1-0 and it looked like the makings of a big inning.
Then a baserunning snafu hurt them again.
Ian Kinsler got sawed off and hit a roller to 1st baseman Luke Voit, who was playing in to cut off the run at the plate. That’s just what he did because Myers broke for home and was thrown out by about eight feet. Catcher Austin Hedges brought in Naylor with a 2-out double to pump the Padres lead up to 2-0 but they got just three hits the rest of the game.
Matt Strahm made another solid start against one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball. Strahm tossed 6.0 innings and struck out a career-high 10 Yankees. The only three runs he allowed also came in the 2nd inning when Clint Frazier and Brett Gardner hit home runs. Strahm allowed just two more hits the rest of the afternoon but was saddled with the loss.
New York’s other two runs came off Craig Stammen in the 8th inning. Gary Sanchez clubbed his 16th homer of the year then Gleyber Torres doubled. Former Padre Cameron Maybin singled to right field and Torres was going to stop at 3rd base but Franmil Reyes let it kick away from him and the final run of the day scored.
The Padres are 2-2 on their American League East road trip. On Tuesday night Eric Lauer gets the start against Masahiro Tanaka.
