The San Diego Padres took advantage of two errors by Wander Franco on the same play to score three runs in the third inning Sunday and held on to defeat the visiting Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. threw out the tying run at the plate after Tampa Bay scored twice in the top of the eighth — the call on catcher Austin Nola’s tag of Manuel Margot was upheld after an appeal by Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash.
Tampa Bay had five singles against Nick Martinez in the eighth, including RBI hits by Margot and pinch-hitter Harold Ramirez. The Rays still had runners at second and third when Yandy Diaz grounded out to end the inning.
Josh Hader struck out two in a perfect ninth to earn his 18th save as the Padres won a third straight series for the first time this season. Joe Musgrove held the Rays to two runs on six hits and a walk with one strikeout over six innings to improve to 5-2. Manny Machado drove in two runs for the Padres in their second straight win over the Rays.
Tampa Bay starter Yonny Chirinos (3-2) gave up five runs (three earned) on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings and took the loss.
Randy Arozarena, Isaac Parades and Josh Lowe opened the second with singles to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead, although a bigger inning was thwarted when Margot grounded into a double play.
Then came the Padres’ strange third inning against Chirinos.
Trent Grisham doubled with one and moved to third on Tatis’ sharp single to left. Juan Soto then chopped a dribbler in front of the plate. Catcher Christian Bethancourt fielded the ball and threw to second in an attempt to get a force on Tatis, but Franco failed to catch the throw, allowing Grisham to score. As Franco chased the ball in short left center, Tatis reached third and headed home. He scored easily due to Franco’s throwing error. Soto reached third, and then scored on Machado’s sacrifice fly.
The Padres added two runs on back-to-back doubles by Jake Cronenworth and Rougned Odor in the fourth. Grisham walked to open the fifth, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Machado’s single for their final run.
–Field Level Media
