Padres outfielder Hunter Renfroe has always had incredible raw power but has not always been able to tap into it consistently.
But when he does the results are awfully impressive.
Renfroe homered for the 4th straight game, demolishing a 9th-inning grand slam to help the Padres an 8-4 win over the Brewers on Thursday afternoon. The win gave San Diego its first series win since taking two of three from the Cardinals from June 11-13.
The Brewers took at 4-2 lead to the top of the 9th inning and turned to reliever Corey Knebel, who could not find the strike zone. Knebel walked three straight hitters before getting a comebacker off the bat of Travis Jankowski … but he couldn’t field it cleanly so his throw to the plate was late and Freddy Galvis scored to cut the lead to 4-3.
Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell pulled Knebel and went to Joakim Soria with nobody out and the bases still loaded. He got Eric Hosmer to fly out to shallow right field but then put a fastball on the inner half of the plate and Renfroe punished it.
The missile left with an exit velocity on 108 MPH, punctuated by a bat flip that would have looked at home in the Korean Baseball League. Renfroe tossed his stick in the air and it ended up a third of the way down the 3rd base line. In addition to the 4-game homer streak Renfroe has had at least two hits in each of his last 4 outings and is riding an 8-game hit streak overall.
Rookie outfielder Franmil Reyes followed Renfroe with a solo homer, his 3rd hit of the day.
The Padres come home with a rare winning road trip (4-3 through Chicago and Milwaukee) and open a weekend series at Petco Park against the Phillies on Friday night. Right-handed starter Jacob Nix, ranked as the Padres’ 14th-best prospect, is expected to make his Major League debut.
