Padres Press Clips Tuesday, May 1, 2018
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Padres Press Clips Tuesday, May 1, 2018 Article Source Author Page Giants deny Eric Lauer, Padres victory with ninth-inning SD Union Tribune Acee 2 comeback Eric Hosmer, Padres show signs in past week that they will hit SD Union Tribune Acee 5 Padres manager Green says Brad Hand was 'best choice right there' SD Union Tribune Acee 9 Padres notes: Austin Hedges' elbow issue likely means return SD Union Tribune Acee 12 of Raffy Lopez Chris Paddack stellar in return from Tommy John SD Union Tribune Sanders 15 Spiffy, subsidized ballpark is outperforming another bad Padres SD Union Tribune Krasovic 18 club Hand falters, can't seal first win for Lauer MLB.com Cassavell 21 Hedges forced to leave early with ailing elbow MLB.com Cassavell 24 Paddack throws six scoreless in 2018 debut MLB.com Adler 25 Padres roll out Majors' speediest outfield MLB.com Cassavell 26 Padres look to Ross in Game 2 vs. Giants FOX Sports Stats 28 Takeaways from the Padres’ 6-5 loss to the Giants FOX Sports Stats 30 Stepdad shows gay daughter he accepts her by texting photo SB Nation Buzinski 31 from San Diego Padres Pride night Where there’s smoke: A concession stand, and the Padres, The Athletic Lin 32 combust at AT&T Park This Day in Padres History — May 1 FriarWire Center 35 #PadresOnDeck: RHP Chris Paddack Allows No Runs in FriarWire Center 36 Debut; Logan Allen, Jankowski Honored 1 Giants deny Eric Lauer, Padres victory with ninth-inning comeback Kevin Acee Eric Lauer looked like a big-league pitcher Monday night, and the 22-year-old rookie came within an out of his first big-league victory. He’ll have to wait on that, though, as Padres closer Brad Hand allowed three runs in the ninth inning, with Nick Hundley’s two-out, two-run walk-off single giving the Giants a 6-5 victory. “Brad’s been really good for us for a long time,” manager Andy Green said. “That’s a tough one to give away today.” After a three-run first inning that seemed like a continuation of his abbreviated debut six days earlier in Colorado, Lauer made it through the fifth inning without allowing another run to the Giants. “Eric did a great job settling in, giving us five really strong innings, especially those last four,” catcher A.J. Ellis said. “… That was a great bounceback game for him. He did everything he could to win the game. We just couldn’t get it done.” The Padres trailed by a run when Lauer walked from the mound at the end of the fifth, but they scored three runs in the top of the sixth, putting Lauer in line for the traditional beer shower given following a maiden major league win. “I was happy that I was able to grind through it,” Lauer said. “That was big for me mentally to be able to say, ‘Hey, I have to buckle down and get outs and just try to last as long as possible.’ After throwing so many pitches in the first, you’ve got to put your team in a place to win. So I was happy with how it went, two through five. The first inning, I shot myself in the foot.” Moreover, the Giants hit some decent pitches in the first inning, starting with a single, triple and double before Lauer got the first out. 2 Thereafter – and even throughout the first inning – the left-hander mixed his four pitches more and commanded them to a greater extent than he did in a three-inning, seven-run outing against the Rockies last Tuesday. He ended up striking out seven while allowing seven hits and walking two. In doing so, he demonstrated the fortitude the Padres figured would help the 2016 first- round draft pick jumping to the majors after one full minor league season. When he pitches against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers on Sunday in Monterrey, Mexico, Lauer will be seeking his first victory because of what happened in the ninth. Hand, who got the final two outs of the eighth, hit pinch-hitter Austin Slater to start the ninth inning. He struck out Gorkys Hernandez and Andrew McCutchen and then walked Buster Posey at the end of a 10-pitch at-bat. With with left fielder Franchy Cordero playing deep to guard against the double, Evan Longoria brought home Slater with a bloop single into the left side of AT&T Park’s large outfield. “It was the first time all season long we’ve moved our outfield back,” Green said. “Longoria has been swinging the bat well lately, been swinging it well against lefties. … It was one of those situations where you want to make them get more hits, you want to make them keep going. It was one of those balls that dropped in. It wasn’t Franchy’s fault. We had him back. It was my choice.” A walk to Brandon Belt loaded the bases, and Hundley ended it with a hit up the middle that scored Posey and Longoria. “Just one of those days, I didn’t have it clicking,” said Hand, who had not pitched in five days because the Padres three games since then had been blowouts one way or the other. Denied the decision because of what the Giants did at the end, Lauer almost got the victory because of what the Padres did immediately after he departed. 3 It was an unfortunate ending on a night in which Lauer and the Padres offense bounced back. The Padres got a run in the fourth inning on a double by Franchy Cordero and single by Manuel Margot. Travis Jankowski, who walked and went to third on Eric Hosmer’s double, scored on Christian Villanueva’s grounder in the fourth. They took a 5-3 lead in the sixth by putting the ball in play, something that has been a challenge for the team that entered the game having struck out more than any other in the majors. With Reyes Moranta starting the sixth inning in relief of Jeff Samardzija, Jose Pirela led off with a walk, went to second on an infield single by Freddy Galvis (a hard grounder that went off second baseman Alen Hanson’s glove and chest) and scored when another hard grounder by Margot went through third baseman Evan Longoria’s legs. A.J. Ellis followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Galvis from third. Chase Headley, pinch-hitting for Lauer, singled to left field to bring home Margot. “We haven’t had a ton of games where we fought back like that,” Green said. “That’s great to see, and then the Lauer stuff. His next outing, he should have a ton of confidence going into it because he handled a good lineup.” 4 Eric Hosmer, Padres show signs in past week that they will hit Kevin Acee Eric Hosmer’s on-base percentage jumped 41 points in one game last week and 75 points over the four games he played from Monday to Monday. That’s why it’s dangerous to get too worked up about a mediocre — or even abysmal — April. It’s why Hosmer stood in the visitors’ clubhouse before a game in Colorado on April 23 and — without being defensive, but with a fair amount of incredulity — responded to questions about his early-season struggles with his new team. “I’ve been through it too many times,” he said. “I realize how long the season is. I realize how the season goes. You feel like a majority of times you’re battling to tread water. Then there are times that you’re hot that you’re making the most of it.” He went out a couple hours later and reached base all six times (two singles, four walks) he was up in the Padres’ 13-5 victory over the Rockies. A week later, against the Giants, he continued his tear, hitting a single and double and walking in five plate appearances Monday night in a game the Padres would lose 6-5. The entire team remained on an arc similar to that of its new star player, if not as pronounced and having not yet yielded very different results in the standings. The had 10 hits Monday, their fourth time in double digits in the past seven games after reaching that threshold five times in their first 23 games. They also struck out just six times, In the week leading up to Monday, while they won just twice, there were signs in the Padres’ offensive production that perhaps the preaching about patience is starting to pay off. They have had their best week at the plate. 5 Foremost, the Padres in the week leading into Monday’s game ranked fifth in the majors in pitches per plate appearance (4.09), compared with ranking 22nd in the season’s first 3½ weeks at 3.85. The results of increased patience at the plate could be seen in other numbers as well. Their collective hitting line of .262/.335/.393 was by far their best of any six-game stretch this season and a vast improvement over the previous week’s .176/.239/.270. “I’ve seen a lot of positive signs over the past week, things I like in the nature of at-bats,” manager Andy Green said. The reason the Padres went 2-4 could be seen in their peaks and valleys. They had games with 16, 13 and 11 hits, and also had just four hits twice and six hits in another game.