*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
If the San Diego Padres keep pitching like this, they'll be a scary foe in the NL West. Robinson Cano drove in a run, Trent Grisham hit an RBI double, and the Padres defeated the Philadelphia Phillies with a 3-0 shutout win on Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
While the Padres offense did what they had to do in order to get the win, the real story came from the contributions of starter Mike Clevinger, who made his 3rd start since returning from Tommy John surgery. He picked up his first win of the season after going 5 innings.
Clevinger said of getting back to pitching that "I definitely think it's just getting back on the horse as many times as I can right now to get back to the feel of the game, the flow of the game. Tonight I was able to read hitters' swings and see the game and what's going on."
With the shutout win, the Padres picked up their second straight win behind Clevinger and the hitting game, improving to 6-4 in their last 10 games and a record of 23-13 on the season, sitting in second place in the NL West. The shutout win also marks the 3rd time at home the Phillies have been shut out, and the 4th time overall this season.
After the first 4 innings of the game went scoreless, Austin Nola got the Padres on the board, reaching on a fielders choice that scored Wil Myers, making it a 1-0 lead. In the 7th inning, Cano got his first Padres RBI, with an RBI single to left center field that scored Myers, making the lead 2-0. Cano then scored on an RBI double from Grisham, making it a 3-0 lead for the Padres.
Picking up the win in his start was Clevinger, who improved to 1-0 in his 3 starts this season. He didn't walk anyone and limited the Phillies to just one hit, striking out 5 hitters in 5 shutout innings. MacKenzie Gore came on in relief for the first time, delivering 3 shutout innings with 4 strikeouts. Taylor Rogers got the save with a clean 9th inning, his 14th save of the season.
Padres acting manager Ryan Christenson said of Gore in relief that "If you’re going to three or four guys routinely, and the workload starts piling up, to have a guy down there that can clean up three innings, and potentially finish a game, that’s pretty big stuff."
Making his first start since the beginning of May for the Phillies was Zach Eflin, who had a strong outing. Eflin pitched 6 innings, allowing one run on 5 hits, walking no one and striking out 5 hitters. James Norwood and Brad Hand pitched the 7th inning, with Nick Nelson throwing two innings to wrap up the game.
Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos said that it "Definitely just kind of felt overall a little bit flat. I don’t know if it was from the long travel and the off-day. But also, you’ve got to give it to Clevinger because he’s got good stuff. And then Gore came in next, and obviously he’s not bad either."
The Padres and Phillies continue their series on Wednesday night, with Blake Snell toeing the rubber for the Padres, and Zack Wheeler starts for the Phillies.
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