*Photo from the Eagle Tribune*
The home run derby already happened, but you wouldn't have known that if you were in San Diego on Friday night. Jorge Alfaro homered, Eric Hosmer and Manny Machado homered, and the San Diego Padres routed the Minnesota Twins with a 10-1 victory on Friday night in San Diego.
With this win, the Padres got their 6th win in 10 games, rocking their City Connect uniforms at home on Friday. They blasted 5 home runs on their way to a statement win, and while they are still 12 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West lead, they proved they can still mash.
Padres manager Bob Melvin said of the home run game that "We needed it to prove we can do it still, too. We've got some guys who can hit it out of the ballpark. The ball that Luke hit, the first one, was so high, that ball hasn't been going out of here. Obviously getting a cushion like that, two runs in the first, was big and then we kept slugging, so that's a good thing."
Luke Voit got the Padres on the board first, cranking a two run home run to left field in the first inning to make it 2-0. In the second, Ha-Seong Kim made it 3-0 with a solo home run. In the 4th, Byron Buxton hit a solo home run, but Hosmer countered for the Padres, making it a 4-1 game after just 4 innings of play.
That was when the Padres started to run away with it. In the 5th inning, Machado ran into a two run home run to center field, increasing the lead to 6-1. Voit then doubled to left field, scoring Jake Cronenworth to make it a 7-1 game. Alfaro then put an exclamation point on the win, blasting a 3 run home run to center field to make it a 10-1 score.
Asked about the game, Alfaro said that "The complete game, the whole game, it was fun. At the beginning we struggled a little bit with his fastball but after that we made the adjustment to go out and compete. It means a lot to us. Every win counts and now we just go for it."
Getting the start for the Padres was Blake Snell, who turned a strong start, allowing one run on 4 hits and one walk, striking out 7 hitters in 6 innings, improving to 3-5 on the season. After Snell departed, Dinelson Lamet, Steven Wilson, and Tim Hill pitched shutout innings out of the bullpen to seal the win for the Padres.
Youngster Joe Ryan got the start and got hammered for the Twins, allowing 10 runs on 8 hits in 4 2/3 innings of work, taking the loss. Jovani Moran pitched 1 1/3 innings after Ryan, followed by Jharel Cotton pitching an inning, and then position player Nick Gordon took the mound for the 8th inning.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said that "Sometimes, it’s not too bad to just call yourself out as just not being good enough. The level of play is not where it needs to be in any way right now. Acknowledging that is the first step, and we are going to have to battle much better than what we’re doing right now if we’re going to get where we need to be, and we’ve got to do that every night."
Up next, the Padres and Twins continue their series on Saturday night. Joe Musgrove gets the start for the Padres, while Sonny Gray takes the mound for the Twins.
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