Padres Lead Evaporates in Miami

San Diego drops 4th straight after losing 6-2 lead

Not having Fernando Rodney available in the bullpen came back to hurt the Padres Friday in Miami.

The former San Diego closer pitched a perfect 9th inning for the Marlins and proceeded to earn the victory when Chris Johnson bounced the game-winning ground-rule double over the right field fence in the bottom of the 9th.

It was a rough night for San Diego relievers Brad Hand and Brandon Maurer. Hand could not protect a 6-3 lead in the 8th against his old team and exited with the Friars up by just a 6-5 margin and two outs in the inning.

Padres manager Andy Green then called upon Maurer to come in and face Miami’s Christian Yellich, who was 0-for-3 in his career against the righty with 3 strikeouts.

The move surprisingly backfired as Yellich proceeded to place a single in centerfield to plate the tying run and set up Johnson’s 9th inning heroics.

Padres rookie infielder Luis Sardinas smacked a 3-run double in the 4th and added a solo homer in the 6th to help San Diego build a 6-2 advantage.

Sardinas finished with 4 runs batted in on the day and would have been the story of the game until the Padres bullpen faltered.

The Friars will try to regroup Saturday when they face the fish again at 4:10 p.m. San Diego’s Clayton Richard opposes Miami starter Jose Urena in game 2 of the Padres 9-game road trip.

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