The Padres are really bad at Coors Field (losers of 14 of their last 16 there). Yu Darvish has been really good pretty much anywhere he takes the mound (undefeated with an ERA of 1.00 in his last four starts). Something had to give on Saturday night in Denver.
Advantage: Darvish.
Yu continued his fabulous September, striking out eight over 6.0 innings in a 9-3 win over the Rockies. He gave up a solo home run in the 1st inning to Ryan McMahon but his offense picked him up. Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth each had RBI knocks in the 3rd inning to put the Friars on top 2-1. Machado drove in another win with a groundout in the 5th to make it 3-1. Meanwhile, Darvish found his swing-and-miss stuff.
Yu struck out the side in the 4th inning and really only encountered any trouble in the 5th. Yonathan Daza hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 3-2, then Darvish got by with a little help from his friends. Randal Grichuk hit a sinking liner to right-centerfield that looked like a game-tying hit but Trent Grisham glided over and made a fabulous diving catch to end the inning.
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In the 7th the Padres put the Colorado bullpen through the ringer. Jurickson Profar doubled and Juan Soto and Machado worked walks to load the bases for Cronenworth. San Diego has had trouble stringing hits together in 2022. It's nice to see them do it during a playoff hunt.
Cronenworth laced a single up the middle to bring in two more runs and make it 5-2. Brandon Drury re-loaded the bases with a single and Josh Bell drew a walk for a free RBI and a 6-2 lead. Ha-Seong Kim got a bit of a gift when he hit a high chopper to shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, who outright missed the ball and let it roll into left field. Kim was given a 2-RBI single, part of a 6-run inning that put it away for the Friars and it's a good thing they did.
The Phillies lost to the Braves and the Brewers smashed the Reds so San Diego leads Philadelphia by half a game for the 5th NL Wild Card spot. Milwaukee is a game and a half back of the Phillies for the final playoff spot.
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The Padres send Mike Clevinger to the mound for their final regular season road game on Sunday afternoon against Kyle Freeland.
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