Padres avoid sweep versus Yankees thanks to small ball

A sellout crowd at Petco Park Sunday of 45,731 saw the San Diego Padres avoid a series weep with a 5 to 2 victory over the New York Yankees.

The 3-game series on Memorial Day weekend against the Yankees set a Padres record at Petco Park for total attendance with 134,081 fans.

The Padres entered Sunday's game having lost 5 straight at Petco Park. A major reason for the lack of wins at home has been a lack of offensive production. In their previous 27 innings at home, the Padres had scored just 1 run.

However, in the 6th inning the Padre offense finally woke up, thanks a combination of Yankee errors and infield hits. San Diego pushed 4 runs across. The first coming on a hard hit fielders choice by Jackson Merrill, the second run on a Ha-Seong Kim bunt that was misplayed by Anthony Rizzo, the third run on a single by Luis Arraez and the 4th run on a dribbler up the 3rd baseline by Fernando Tatis Jr. Only one ball was hit out of the infield in the inning by the Padres, the single by Arraez.

That put the Padres ahead 4-1, for their first lead at Petco Park in the last 50 innings. Their last lead at home before that was May 12th against the Dodgers.

The Padres added another run in the 7th inning, when Jack Cronenworth and Manny Machado hit back to back doubles.

Joe Musgrove, working his way back from an injured list stint due to elbow inflammation, pitched 5.1 innings, striking out 5 and allowing 1 run.

Musgrove also made one of the Padres best defensive plays of the year, in the 5th inning Anthony Rizzo hit a scorching line drive right back up at him on the mound, Musgrove's quick reflexes allowed him to flip his glove and catch the liner.

Former Padre, Juan Soto gave his new club the lead with a line-drive double to right-center over the head of Fernando Tatis which scored Oswaldo Cabrera for a 1-0 New York advantage.

Next up, the Padres welcome the Miami Marlins to Petco Park for a 3-game series, starting Monday at 3:40pm.