When the Padres made all those moves running up to the trade deadline and said they were going with a youth movement, they were not kidding. And you know what? It’s actually been really fun to watch.
The Friars started five rookies again on Sunday and the kids went bonkers in a 9-1 win over the Diamondbacks at Petco Park. How about this for some symmetry: the five rookies combined for five RBI and five runs scored.
Travis Jankowski started the scoring with a 2-run home run in the third inning, his second homer of the year. The rookie centerfielder has reached base safely in 20 straight games. The big fly gave fellow rookie Luis Perdomo a lead to work with and the 23-year-old right-hander just picked apart the Arizona lineup.
Perdomo made by far the best start of his career, going 7.0 innings, striking out (you guessed it) five without a walk. The five hits he allowed were all singles and the only run he allowed was unearned. Interestingly, it was Perdomo who made the error that led to the run so the last two nights the Diamondbacks scored a total of three runs, all of them unearned, and all of them due to errors by Padres pitchers.
In the fifth inning Adam Rosales (not a rookie) tripled home Patrick Kivlehan (rookie) to put the Padres up 3-0. Then Perdomo helped himself with a base hit to bring home Rosales and run the lead to 4-0. The Padres put it out of reach in the 6th inning when Alex Dickerson (rookie) hit a solo home run, his 8th of the year. A few batters later Kivlehan added another RBI single to make it 7-0 Padres.
Kivlehan, who homered and singled in his big league debut on Saturday, had a pair of hits on Sunday. He’s off to a decent start with four hits in his first six MLB at-bats.
The Padres take three of four games in the series, giving them a two-game lead on Arizona in the battle to stay out of the National League West basement. San Diego opens a 3-game set against the Chicago Cubs, owners of the best record in baseball, on Monday night at Petco Park. Former Cub Edwin Jackson takes the mound against All-Star Jon Lester.
