Padres Press Clips Thursday, August 30, 2018 Article Source Author Page Padres notes: Urias’ bomb that wasn’t; Renfroe’s accidental bomb; SD Union Tribune Acee 2 Lucchesi’s laughing matter Urias, Lucchesi lift Padres past Mariners for season’s first sweep SD Union Tribune Acee 5 Padres needed a win, not another losing lesson SD Union Tribune Acee 8 Padres announce 2019 spring training schedule SD Union Tribune Sanders 12 Colin Rea pitches El Paso to 80th win SD Union Tribune Sanders 14 Padres’ young bats crank way to win vs. Seattle MLB.com Cassavell 17 Urias collects 1st 3 hits in 2nd big league game MLB.com Cassavell 20 Looking back at Padres’ best stretch-drive run MLB.com MLB.com 21 Lucchesi, long balls carry Padres to 8-3 win over Mariners AP AP 26 This Day in Padres History, 8/30 FriarWire Center 29 Urias has 3 hits, Lucchesi dominates in Padres’ 8-3 win over AP Wilson 30 Seattle 1 Padres notes: Urias' bomb that wasn't; Renfroe's accidental bomb; Lucchesi's laughing matter Kevin Acee Luis Urias has been all the Padres could have hoped in his first two major league games. He was almost even more. After walking once in his debut, Urias was 3-for-5 with a double in Wednesday’s 8-3 victory over the Mariners. And for a minute, he had his first major league home run — before a replay review found Urias’ opposite-field shot tailed just wide of the right-field foul pole. “It was kind of fine,” he said later. “When I was running to first base, I thought it hit the pole at the end. But the replay, it doesn’t lie, right?” Funny, after all Catcher Austin Hedges’ face was full of concern as he knelt next to Joey Lucchesi, the rookie in clear pain after being hit by a line drive in the very sensitive groin area. As it became clear Lucchesi was not seriously hurt, Hedges covered his face with his glove. A minute later, as Lucchesi had walked off the shot and was beginning his warm-ups, all of the Padres infielders stood watching with their gloves over their faces. They were concealing smiles. 2 “We’re all boys,” Lucchesi said after the game. “It’s pretty funny I got hit there. And I was all right, so I guess it’s OK to laugh at.” Lucchesi proceeded to strike out the next five batters en route to a career-high 6 2/3 innings and the victory. Accidentally deep Hunter Renfroe says his home runs are often accidents. Like Wednesday’s 389-footer to left field. With runners on second and third in the third inning, Renfroe reached out with a swing clearly intending to just get his second sacrifice fly of the game. “That was just a change-up,” Renfroe said. “Chipped it.” It was Renfroe’s ninth home run in his past 22 games, tied for second-most in the majors in that span (since Aug. 5). His four RBIs Wednesday gave him 26 RBIs in his past 23 games. His 17 home runs are three fewer than team leader Christian Villanueva, who is almost certainly done for the season after fracturing the middle finger of his throwing hand last week. Extra bases • Manuel Margot went 3-for-4 with a double and home run and is batting .308/.293/.513 in his past 11 starts, all in the seventh or eighth spot in the batting order. In his previous 13 starts, all hitting first or second, Margot’s line was .213/.203/.344. • Eric Hosmer was 3-for-5, tying his season high for hits in a game (eight times). He entered the game with one hit in his previous 25 at-bats. • The Padres not only got their first sweep of a series but swept the Mariners for the first time since June 18-19, 2014. The teams split two and the Mariners swept two of their two-game series since then. The teams, who have played at 3 least four games every year since 1997, play twice more, Sept. 11 and 12 in Seattle. The Padres last won the season series in 2012. • Rookie right-hander Colten Brewer, making his first appearance since being activated from the disabled list on Tuesday, allowed two runs in the eighth inning. He had allowed no runs and just one baserunner in his previous three appearances (2 1/3 innings). • The Padres drove in two runs on sacrifice flies Wednesday (Renfroe and Lucchesi). Their 15 sacrifice flies lead the National League since the All-Star break and rank third in the majors behind the Rays’ and Yankees’ 16. In the first half, the Padres ranked last in the NL and second-to-last in the majors with 17 sacrifice flies. The Padres ranked 28th in the majors with 3.7 runs per game in the first half and rank 25th with 4.1 runs per game since the break. 4 Urias, Lucchesi lift Padres past Mariners for season's first sweep Kevin Acee In the Luis Urias Era, the Padres have not lost. Facetiousness implied. But not entirely. The 21-year-old Urias, in his second game since being promoted from Triple-A, on Wednesday got his first three major league hits as the Padres beat the Seattle Mariners 8-3 at Petco Park. “When you’ve got a young guy with high expectations, it changes everything a little bit,” shortstop Freddy Galvis said. “He’s changed the momentum since the first play he made in the first inning (Tuesday). You can see a new energy on the team. Two days and two wins. … The kid gives a lot of energy. He plays hard, he knows how to take pitches, he knows how to get on base. That’s extra, extra energy you give to the team.” The victory gave the Padres, who have been swept nine times, their first sweep of 2018. This was just a two-game set against the Mariners. But the Padres, at 52-83 overall and losers of five straight and 11 of 13 coming in, were swept in three of their previous four two-game series. Oh, and the Padres are pitching with precision and toughness, too, in this new epoch ushered in by Tuesday’s arrival of Urias, the 5-foot-9 dynamo who is the first of the Padres’ top-tier prospects to arrive in the big leagues. 5 After Jacob Nix came within two outs of a complete-game shutout Tuesday, fellow rookie Joey Lucchesi allowed one run and struck out nine in pitching a career-high 6 2/3 innings Wednesday. Give Lucchesi co-headliner status among the rookies who shone Wednesday — Urias the sparkplug at second base and in the batter’s box, Lucchesi the tough guy on the mound. The 25-year-old left-hander took a line drive to the groin, picked up the ball and threw to first base to get the first out of the fourth inning before crumpling to his knees and staying on the infield grass for a couple minutes. “It woke me up for sure,” said Luchessi, who has a 3.18 ERA and has struck out 36 over 28 1/3 innings in his past five starts. “I was like, ‘All right, let’s attack these guys and keep going.’ ” Lucchesi (7-7) remained in the game, struck out the next five batters and retired 10 of 11 before a two-out walk to Cameron Maybin and a single by Mariners relief pitcher Roenis Elias ended his day with two out in the seventh inning. “The ball back off of him, to get right back up and finish that play, a lot of pitchers end up staying on the ground in that moment,” manager Andy Green said. “He recovered and was able to keep going.” It was just the second time in his 21 starts that Lucchesi lasted into the seventh, as he tied his high of nine strikeouts and threw a career-high 108 pitches. Deftly locating his fastball and keeping his churve down in a manner he could not do consistently for good portions of the past two months, Lucchesi allowed his only run Wednesday on two singles and a stolen base in the first inning. Half of the Mariners’ six hits against him came in the first inning, and they got just one after the third. The Padres supported Lucchesi by getting 11 of their 13 hits and scoring all of their runs in the first five innings. 6 They took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first on Galvis’ single, the first of Wil Myers’ two walks, the first of Eric Hosmer’s three hits and a sacrifice fly by Hunter Renfroe. Manuel Margot hit a home run in the second, and Renfroe sent a ball to the second balcony of the Western Metal Building in the third for a three-run homer. Margot also doubled in a run in the fifth. The third inning also featured the first major-league hit (a single) by Urias and the first major-league RBI (on a sacrifice fly) by Lucchesi. Urias, who debuted Tuesday, rounded the bases with what appeared to be his first home run in Wednesday’s fourth inning. But the shot down the right-field line was ruled foul after a replay review. Urias ended up grounding out in that at-bat but doubled in the sixth and added a single in the eighth.