SAN DIEGO _ Dressed in white but green around the ears, the Padres went to the plate Saturday faced with what seemed like a monumental challenge. Madison Bumgarner was on the mound.
The San Diego lineup included four players who'd yet to see more than five at-bats against the Giants' scowling ace. One was making the first start of his major league career. Until Opening Day, he had never played an official inning above rookie ball.
Owing to the nature of a season in which the Padres opened with three Rule 5 draftees on the roster, these types of mismatches will be inevitable throughout the course of the year.
"You put a young guy like Allen Cordoba in the game today, he doesn't know any better," manager Andy Green said before the Padres' 2-1 victory at Petco Park. "Just go swing the bat, just go play, go enjoy being on a major league field and hope the fact that (Bumgarner) doesn't know Allen Cordoba at all plays in our favor a little bit."
While Jhoulys Chacin outdueled Bumgarner in the home team's series-clincher, a few acquaintances were made.
Cordoba, the aforementioned rookie-ball graduate, fell behind to lead off the bottom of the second, then singled through the left side of the infield for his first career hit.
Right fielder Hunter Renfroe doubled in the first, scoring Manuel Margot continuing his remarkable, early success against Bumgarner. Shortly after he was called up last September, Renfroe went 2-for-3 off the left-hander with a double and his first career home run.
Atop the Padres' order, Margot was a table-setting dynamo for the second consecutive day. The rookie center fielder followed his two-homer performance with a double in his first at-bat and, an inning later, another two-bagger to score Cordoba.
Armed with a 2-0 lead, Chacin churned through the Giants' lineup. The right-hander showed vastly improved command from his opening-day debacle at Dodger Stadium. He finished with 62/3 innings, yielding only three hits and a walk. He struck out five.
Brad Hand relieved Chacin and recorded four outs without allowing a hit or a walk. Fellow left-hander Ryan Buchter received the save opportunity in the ninth.
After a pair of hits ended the shutout bid, Buchter sealed the victory by inducing a routine fly out to left.
The Padres moved to 3-3, .500 for the first time since May 19, 2015.
