San Diego slugs its way to win in series opener versus Athletics
· Yahoo Sports
The San Diego Padres needed this. After only scoring five runs across their entire series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Friars put up seven runs with three homers against the Athletics. It was a barrage that felt warranted.
The Padres offense looked healthy as ever against the Seattle Mariners last weekend but went cold against their division rivals. It’s nice to see that some slug was rediscovered — especially from the struggling bats of Manny Machado and Ramón Laureano.
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Starter Walker Buehler struggled with command, but managed to work around it, pitching five solid innings and surrendering three runs. But two of those came in the first inning and Buehler settled down after that.
With the game tied when Buehler exited, San Diego was forced to use their high-leverage relievers. That could affect the game today if Lucas Giolito doesn’t pitch as well as he did in his debut against Seattle.
Taking the mound
J.T. Ginn (ATH) v. Lucas Giolito (SD)Giolito impressed in his 2026 debut, pitching five great innings before struggling to finish his sixth. His final line of three runs allowed doesn’t quite do justice to the fantastic start he had.
The right-hander was signed late into the season for a measly $3 million. He’s already impressed despite only making one start. If Giolito can continue that against the A’s tonight it would go even further toward his Padres resumé.
Ginn was an inning away from a no-hitter in his last start before the wheels fell off and the Athletics lost the game. He’s been one of the more impressive parts of the A’s lackluster pitching staff.
Through eight starts Ginn owns a 2.98 ERA and 1.07 WHIP with 44 strikeouts. He’ll look to limit the Friars offense tonight after their power surge in Friday’s game.
Batter up!
Friday’s win was great for a lot of reasons, but chief of them was San Diego finally flashing some power. Four of their seven runs came via the long ball, with Machado and Laureano starting to break out of their slumps.
- Fernando Tatis Jr., 2B
- Miguel Andujar, DH
- Gavin Sheets, 1B
- Manny Machado, 3B
- Xander Bogaerts, SS
- Ramón Laureano, LF
- Jackson Merrill, CF
- Nick Castellanos, RF
- Freddy Fermin, C
Tatis is still without a homer, though he found other ways to be productive. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored in last night’s game.
Merrill will likely be back in the lineup though he could continue to sit on the bench if the Padres want to play his injury safe. Bryce Johnson played in center last night and made several great defensive plays.
Relief corps
With the game close (and several innings to cover), the Padres used Bradgley Rodriguez, Adrian Morejon, Jason Adam and Jeremiah Estrada to finish out the game.
The quartet pitched fantastically, though Rodriguez floundered in the sixth, struggling to record the final out. Morejon was called on and finished the job.
For today’s matchup, the Friars will have Ron Marinaccio, Yuki Matsui, Mason Miller and Wandy Peralta available. Only Miller has been viewed as a high-leverage piece of the four, though Matsui has yet to allow a run this season.