Padres Press Clips Sunday, August 19, 2018
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Padres Press Clips Sunday, August 19, 2018 Article Source Author Page Villanueva’s walk-off single lifts Padres over Diamondbacks SD Union Tribune Acee 2 Trevor Hoffman statue unveiled at Petco Park SD Union Tribune Acee 5 Wil Myers impressing Padres teammates as he learns third base SD Union Tribune Acee 7 Padres walk off on Villanueva’s pinch-hit heroics MLB.com Cassavell 9 Padres unveil Hoffman statue at Petco Park MLB.com Cassavell 11 Villanueva’s walk-off single gives Padres win over D’Backs AP AP 13 #PadresOnDeck: Urias-Led Infield; LHP Logan Allen Lead FriarWire Center 15 Triple-A El Paso to Fourth Straight Win This Day in Padres History – 8/19 FriarWire Center 20 Villanueva walks it off for Padres on Hoffman’s night FOX Sports AP 21 1 Villanueva's walk-off single lifts Padres over Diamondbacks Kevin Acee After a gimpy-footed hero hit a walk-off single to win the game for the Padres on the night the franchise’s iconic closer was immortalized with a statue, they played “Hells Bells” on a loop in the Padres clubhouse and shared birthday cake. And Trevor Hoffman stood among them smiling and laughing before he walked to the field to take in the fireworks show in his honor. “A guy like Trevor, the stuff he does for the community, it’s not an accident that on his day it wasn’t just a win or a tough loss, it was the best way to win,” catcher Austin Hedges said. “To be able to celebrate with him on his day, you couldn’t write a better script.” Hours after the nine-foot tall bronze statue of Hoffman was unveiled at Petco Park, Christian Villanueva’s pinch-hit single to left field with two outs in the ninth inning brought home Travis Jankowski from second base to give the Padres a 7-6 victory over the Diamondbacks. Villanueva’s left foot had taken a beating in the previous two days, the final blow a slider that hit him om Friday night. He left that game in the eighth inning and spent Saturday trying to get the substantial swelling in his foot to subside. Manager Andy Green asked him as the ninth inning was starting whether he could hit if the opportunity arose. Villanueva went to the cages behind the dugout, took some swings and returned to tell Green that he could go. After the Diamondbacks intentionally walked Hunter Renfroe, with Jankowski on second, Yoshihisa Hirano sent a split-finger fastball past Villanueva, who fouled off 2 the next two splitters before watching a fastball sail high. Villanueva then reached down and smacked another splitter in the bottom of the zone safely into the left-field grass. “First off, it’s a dream come true to be able to hit a walk-off at the big-league level,” Villanueva said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Especially after a ceremony like we had tonight with a living legend for this team, it really pulled everything together. With the fans that came out and the energy we had, it really topped things off to be able to finish it like that.” The victory, at the end of a game in which the Padres took their first lead of the week and then lost it, snapped a five-game losing streak. “It’s no secret it’s been a rough grind for us for a while,” Green said. “It’s a big day for the organization. Everybody loves Trevor. I think it meant something for them to win a game on the day his statue went up.” Every Padres player and coach had sat in the dugout or stood along its railing during a pregame ceremony, rapt as Hoffman was honored. Even as they warmed up afterward, most watched on the video board as the statue was unveiled beyond the bullpens. Then they went out and had their fourth straight starting pitcher throw dirt over them before they ever stepped in the batter’s box. After the Diamondbacks went up 2-0 in the first and added a run off Clayton Richard in the third, the Padres tied the game 3-3 in the fourth. Walks by Eric Hosmer and Cory Spangenberg around Renfroe’s single loaded the bases with no outs. After Hedges struck out, Freddy Galvis bounced a ball into center field that scored two and got Spangenberg to third base. Manuel Margot’s sacrifice fly scored Spangenberg. Again, Richard labored to get outs in the fifth, as the Diamondbacks strung together three singles and Paul Goldschmidt’s double to regain the lead, 5-3. 3 The Padres responded with another three-run burst in the bottom of the fifth. Jankowski singled to left, went to second on Wil Myers’ dribbling infield single and scored on a double to the left-field wall by Hosmer. Spangenberg’s single drove in Myers and put Hosmer on third before a single by Hedges, who was celebrating his 26th birthday, gave the Padres their first lead in a game since Sunday. Phil Maton replaced Richard and got through a scoreless sixth inning before A.J. Pollock hit a two-out double and scored on a single by Paul Goldschmidt, his fourth hit of the night, in the seventh. Craig Stammen (6-2) pitched a perfect eighth and ninth. “That was awesome — Trevor’s night and couldn’t have ended in a better way for the Padres,” Stammen said. “He’s such a big part of this organization. I feel like he’s part of this team. He’s around a lot. I was fired up for it. I think the rest of the boys were, too.” 4 Trevor Hoffman statue unveiled at Petco Park Kevin Acee To have a statue at a ballpark, a man was a maker of moments. Trevor Hoffman’s latest moment – a result of all the other moments, like save Nos. 479 and 500 and the three days at the end of 1996 and the 1998 playoffs – came Saturday. Hoffman is nine feet tall and cast in bronze now, forever mid-windup out beyond the bullpens at Petco Park. “I’m blown away by it,” Hoffman said as he looked up at the statue, one hand touching the base and the other rubbing his eyes. “I wasn’t expecting to get emotional, and it kinda got me.” Before a pregame ceremony, Padres reliever Craig Stammen said, “Being right out there by the bullpen makes it even better.” In that ceremony, longtime Padres radio voice Ted Leitner told the crowd, “They don’t put statues up just for statistics.” Hoffman’s statue is perched on a five-foot pedestal facing down K Street toward the statue of Tony Gwynn located on the berm at the back of Park at the Park. A statue of former Padres broadcaster Jerry Coleman stands at the East Village Gate entrance on K Street. Hoffman, who was twice given standing ovations, closed his brief remarks to the crowd by sharing he was “completely humbled” and thanking fans who he hoped would walk by the statue and “reminisce a little bit about what 51 was like.” 5 He and family members were then driven to the statue, where just before first pitch of the Padres game against the Diamondbacks, Hoffman watched as his giant likeness was unveiled. Hoffman seemed awed and later wiped away tears before posing for photos with his family. It has essentially been the Season of Hoffman, Trevor Time all the time at Petco Park this season. This weekend is the culminating celebration of the team’s iconic closer, who played for them from mid-1993 through 2008. Hoffman, who serves as an adviser in the organization’s baseball operations department, is a frequent visitor to the Padres clubhouse. There is a reverence the players, particularly the relievers with whom he has spent much time talking baseball, have for him. Some excerpts from his induction speech hang in the team’s clubhouse. Players lined the dugout railing on Friday night to watch as highlights of Hoffman’s time in Cooperstown played on the giant video screen above the left field seats. The entire team was in the dugout again watching Saturday’s ceremony. Padres catcher Austin Hedges put Hoffman’s standing in perspective a few hours earlier. “Some of the statues that come to mind are at Staples Center,” Hedges said. “You see the new Shaq one, Magic Johnson, all those guys. When you get compared to iconic guys like that, that’s exactly who he is here in San Diego and to the baseball community itself. What he’s done for this sport and this city is incredible, and nobody deserves a statue more than he does.” Annie Heilbrunn contributed to this report. 6 Wil Myers impressing Padres teammates as he learns third base Kevin Acee Diamondbacks pitcher Robbie Ray laid down a nice bunt between the mound and third base line, but Wil Myers also charged in (and past) the rolling ball at the wrong angle and with the furor of a bull running from an elephant. “Those are the subtleties of the position that will take time,” Padres manager Andy Green said. Yes, time. There hasn’t been much of that. Myers spent a couple weeks – interrupted by five days in which he was unable to do any work due to a bone bruise on his foot – taking ground balls in earnest. He then played third base in the major leagues for the first time on Monday.