Padres Press Clips Thursday, June 1, 2017 Article Source Author Page Padres beat Cubs again, sealing first sweep of season UT San Diego Lin 2 Padres bullpen rises, helping now and later UT San Diego Acee 4 Homers sink Cal Quantrill, Storm UT San Diego Sanders 7 Padres bullpen trending in right direction UT San Diego Lin 8 Wrecking ball won't destroy Q memories UT San Diego Krasovic 10 Padres edge Cubs to finish off sweep MLB.com Cassavell/Muskat 13 Perdomo paves way despite win eluding him MLB.com Posner 16 Wellman no longer offers comic relief on field MLB.com Castrovince 17 Lamet forcing way into rotation conversation MLB.com Posner 22 Richard, Marquez to duel as Padres host Rox MLB.com Posner 24 Bullpen is stellar in back-to-back wins MLB.com Center 25 Padres win 2-1 to send Cubs to 6th straight loss Associated Press AP 27 This Day in Padres History, 5/31 Friar Wire Center 29 Padres On Deck: Franmil Reyes has 2 HRs, 6 RBIs for Friar Wire Center 31 AA-San Antonio That time the Padres drafted Brendan McKay UT San Diego Sanders 33 Perdomo tames left-handed batters in latest start UT San Diego Lin 35 Padres Sweep World Series Champions NBC 7 Togerson 37 1 Padres beat Cubs again, sealing first sweep of season Dennis Lin Youth, with all its springy possibilities, carried the Padres to an improbable feat on Wednesday. They completed their first series sweep of the season, and their first of the Chicago Cubs since 2012. A rebuilding club extended its winning streak to four games, its longest since San Diego claimed five consecutive victories in August of 2015. A 2-1 decision over the defending World Series champions involved a second-year major leaguer on the mound, a rookie behind the plate, a rookie batting cleanup and a rookie leading off in just his fourth career start. In the bottom of the eighth, he made it a start to remember. Padres center fielder Franchy Cordero, promoted from Triple-A just four days earlier, had struck out in each of his first three at-bats. Jake Arrieta, the 2015 National League Cy Young Award winner, had bested him every time. On a 1-1 count, the 22-year-old displayed a short memory. Cordero hammered an elevated splitter thrown by Koji Uehara. The ball screamed out to right- center, hopping against the fence. The rookie sped past second and charged into third with a one-out triple. “I was honestly just looking for a pitch up, he gave it to me, and I tried to put my best swing on it,” Cordero said through an interpreter. “When I made the turn at first, I saw the fielder hadn’t gotten to (the ball) yet, so I knew I was going to go for three.” When Yangervis Solarte redirected the very next pitch, sending a hard grounder to second baseman Ian Happ, Cordero broke toward home. A moment later, his right foot skidded across the plate, between the legs of Willson Contreras. The Cubs catcher attempted a tag. He was a beat late. Cordero popped up, having broken a 1-1 tie. “A lot of young guys don’t have that resiliency, to punch out three times and come up with the game on the line in the eighth inning and hit a triple,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “Most people don’t turn that into a triple, either. He was flying around the bases, and then the speed to score on a ground ball to second base on the contact play, gets his foot in there clearly. There’s a lot of tools to like there.” For the Padres, a three-game set against a struggling but still formidable Cubs team showcased their potential. In the opener, rookie right fielder Hunter Renfroe smashed a grand slam. On Tuesday, catcher Austin Hedges drove in four runs and caught five electric innings by Dinelson Lamet, who was making his second big-league start. 2 Wednesday afternoon, Luis Perdomo pitched seven full innings for the first time this season, outlasting Arrieta, who completed six. The Padres right-hander surrendered just three hits and two walks. Left-handed batters, a familiar problem, went 0-for-14 against him. The only damage came in the second inning. With a runner on third, Perdomo delivered an 0-2 slider, down and away. Javier Baez lunged at it, producing weak contact. Third baseman Ryan Schimpf charged the resulting bouncer, but the ball flew out of his glove as he attempted the transfer. A run scored from third, giving the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Leading off the bottom of the inning, Schimpf made amends. Arrieta threw him a slider, and he belted it out to right for his team-leading 14th homer of the season, his fifth in his last eight starts. The starting pitchers traded zeroes from there, until the bullpens took the mound. In the bottom of the eighth, Cordero’s athleticism took over. Since debuting with a pinch-hit strikeout against 2016 Cy Young winner Max Scherzer, Cordero has gone 5-for-15 with a walk and a pair of extra-base hits. He has covered loads of ground in center field, where on Wednesday he tracked down a couple of deep fly balls with ease. The sample size is almost negligible. The upside, meanwhile, is clear. “It’s easy to see a guy who’s going to impact games in the future,” Green said. “That’s how you win games down the line.” Asked if Cordero reminded him of another player, Green mentioned he’d heard of comparisons to Pittsburgh outfielder Gregory Polanco. “Leggy, long athletes that fly around the field, very toolsy,” the manager said. “(Cordero) whistles the bat in the strike zone. So I can see that one, but I think he’s going to be his own player and establish himself in time. It says a lot about the farm system, the way player development’s gone down there.” Growth at the highest level has been evident, too. On May 20, the Padres suffered their second consecutive blowout defeat, dropping to a league-worst 15-30. They since have gone 7-3, punctuating the stretch with a trio of wins against Chicago. “They’ve got a heck of a team over there, and any time you can have a series like that against anybody, it’s good,” Schimpf said. “We’re definitely happy with the series, and hopefully we’ll keep it going.” “Now, you’re seeing a group of young guys that you don’t have to dream on, that you can just believe in because you see what they’ve got,” Green said. “So it’s exciting to see those guys show up and start to do some really good things.” 3 Padres bullpen rises, helping now and later Kevin Acee We’ve seen in the past few days how it was supposed to be. As Brandon Maurer strode from the bullpen on Wednesday, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” blared through Petco Park, the scoreboard above the left-field seats playing a montage of pictures and video clips of the Padres’ long-haired closer, the images outlined in blazing orange, a mix of fire and sparks. Maurer first saw a preview of the video in early May. Wednesday was just the second time the rest of us got to see it. It just hadn’t been necessary, as the Padres were struggling to the extent that ninth-inning heroics were not required and Maurer was struggling to the extent that he wasn’t consistently getting outs whenever he did pitch. That Wednesday was the second time in three days the montage was played preceding Maurer pitching a perfect ninth inning for a save is illustrative of the Padres bullpen again being what it was supposed to be. And that is more important than anything else going on with this young team – now or in the next two months. Oh, the Padres sweeping the Chicago Cubs the past three days was splendid. The clubhouse was alive with hooting and hollering and music that could be heard by the deaf after Wednesday’s 2-1 victory over the defending world champions. Give Luis Perdomo credit for allowing a run on three hits over seven innings. Give Franchy Cordero credit, playing in his fifth major-league game, for following three strikeouts with a three-bagger, which allowed him to score on Yangervis Solarte’s grounder in the bottom of the eighth. Give Solarte credit for his dive across the dirt and throw from his knees to get the second out of the seventh inning and, most importantly, keep a runner at third. The Padres are riding their first four-game winning streak since August 2015. That is fun, and victories like Wednesday’s can only help a young team seeking consistency to go with its resilience. However, the best news for this team – for the now and the later – is that in the series against the Cubs the Padres relievers continued a streak that began last weekend in Washington. With Brad Hand’s scoreless eighth and Maurer’s scoreless ninth on Wednesday, the bullpen has gone 17 2/3 innings without allowing a run. 4 “Everyone is killing it right now,” left-hander Ryan Buchter said. “There is no ‘Big Three’ or whatever. Everybody is going out there giving the ball to the next guy. That's what makes us a good group.” Oh, there is a Big Three.