By Zachary McMahon –
The Washington Nationals played the San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego on Wednesday night. The Padres took the first two games of the series, and were looking for the sweep against the Nationals.
DJ Herz started for the Nationals as he went 3 ⅓ innings, allowing six hits, four earned runs, two walks, and just had one strikeout. Dylan Cease started for the Padres as he pitched a one-hitter in seven innings and struck out nine.
Cease held the Nats hitless until two outs in the fifth when Nick Senzel hit a single. Luis Arraez did not play in the game for the Padres as Donovan Solano played at first base.
Manny Machado was the designated hitter and Eguy Rosario played at third base. Padres catcher Kyle Higashioka brought in the first runs for the Padres with a two-run home run
in the second inning.
In the fourth inning, Rosario hit a double, and Higashioka hit a single and Rosario advanced to third. Herz threw a wild pitch when Bryce Johnson was in the batters box, and Rosario scored on the pitch.
Johnson was called up from Triple-A El Paso to replace Fernando Tatis Jr. at right field, who landed on the 10-day injured list on Monday, would hit a sacrifice bunt to advance
Higashioka to third base. Jurickson Profar would bring home Higashioka on an RBI single, extending his RBI streak to three games, fresh off a grand slam in Tuesday’s game. He has now reached safely in his last 18 games and extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
Herz would be taken out for Jacob Barnes to finish the inning, and he made first baseman
Solano ground out into a double play to end the inning. Barnes did not allow a baserunner as he continued to pitched the fifth and sixth innings as he also struck out Ha-Seong Kim as his one strikeout.
Jordan Weems would follow suit in the
seventh inning, as he struck out Solano to end the inning. Then, in the eighth, as Trevor Rainey came in to pitch for the Nats, he allowed a lead-off single to Manny Machado.
After allowing a walk to Jake Cronenworth and a bunt single to Kim, Rainey struck out Jackson Merrill, and Rosario flew out to center field and nobody advanced with bases
loaded. Higashioka hit his first career grand slam in the eighth, as the Padres hit a grand slam for the second straight game, and Higashioka hit his second home run of the game, and his fifth career multi-homer game.
This was the first time that thee Padres have hit a grand slam in two straight games, since their record four-straight games with a grand slam in August 2020. After Yuki Matsui pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, Tom Cosgrove came in to relieve him in the ninth, but got rocked hard as he walked Jacob Young, Nasim Nunez, who pinch hit for
former Padre C.J. Abrams, who went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, singled.
Lane Thomas cleared the bases with a two-run double to get their first runs on the board in the ninth. After Illdemaro Vargas flew out to center, Joey Meneses was hit by Cosgrove, and Cosgrove was taken out of the game for Adam Morejon, as he got rocked hard to start his appearance, as Luis Garcia Jr. cleared the bases with a two-run double when Thomas and Meneses both
scored.
Designated hitter Harold Ramirez scored Garcia Jr. home on a RBI single, as they had the comeback wheels out as they cut the deficit to 8-5. However,the Padres defense was able to stop the comeback attempt by the Nats when Senzel grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game to seal the 8-5 win for the Padres.
The Nats will continue their roadtrip as they will fly to Tampa Bay to play the Rays for a
three-game series starting on Friday as Michael Parker will take the mound for the Nationals on the 6:50 pm first pitch. Meanwhile, the Padres will be traveling to Fenway Park to face the Boston Red Sox for a three-game weekend series as it will be Randy Vasquez going up against Nick Pivetta on Friday with a 7:10 first pitch.
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