ARLINGTON, Texas — The Padres won their third straight game by emptying their bullpen after they lost a starting pitcher.
Five Padres relievers followed Adrian Morejón to the mound after the young left-hander departed three batters into the game, and solo home runs by Trent Grisham and Manny Machado provided the game’s only scoring in a 2-0 victory that completed a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers. (Box score.)
The Padres announced that Morejón, a 22-year-old left-hander, had suffered a forearm strain near the elbow of his pitching arm and would be evaluated Monday.
Catcher Victor Caratini practically sprinted to the mound after Morejón threw four straight balls to walk Joey Gallo and was quickly joined by manager Jayce Tingler and athletic trainer Ricky Huerta and every Padres infielder.
It didn’t take long for Morejón to walk off the field with Huerta, who had been checking the area around Morejón’s left elbow. The pitcher’s head was bowed.
The Padres do expect Dinelson Lamet to return, perhaps as soon as this Thursday or Friday. MacKenzie Gore, the top pitching prospect in baseball, has gone five innings and 90 pitches in an alternate site game in the past week. They could also start rookie Ryan Weathers, who has allowed one run in six innings of relief.
Even with Morejon out, a magnificently tense and unlikely pitchers’ duel unfolded at Globe Life Park.
Rangers pitcher Mike Foltynewicz, who threw 35 pitches in his first inning of the season and 29 in the second in his start six days earlier, made it through seven innings on 91 pitches. He allowed two hits.
Craig Stammen ran in with no warning to replace Morejón and went longer than he had since May 23, 2017. He stranded Gallo with a strikeout to end the first inning and continued working through the fourth.
No one was even throwing in the bullpen when he recorded his final out, a strikeout of Jose Trevino with a runner on second base. He walked a batter and allowed a single that will almost certainly be changed to an error at some point, as Trevino clearly reached base in the second inning because Ha-seong Kim muffed a grounder.
Taylor Williams pitched a perfect fifth before yielding the Rangers’ next hit, a single by Isiah Kiner-Falefa leading off the sixth. Tim Hill relieved Williams with one out, hit the first batter he faced and struck out the next two.
Austin Adams made his season debut in the seventh and immediately gave up a double to Trevino that Grisham almost caught. Trevino moved to third on a sacrifice bunt before Adams struck out Anderson Tejada, hit Leody Taveras and got Kiner-Falefa on a grounder to shortstop.
Emilio Pagán worked a scoreless eighth, with an assist from Caratini. With one out, Eli White took off from first base on a steal attempt, but Caratini picked a low cutter and threw from his knees directly at the bag, where second baseman Jurickson Profar applied the quick tag for the out.
Nick Solak lined the next pitch to right field for a single before Pagán issued walks to Nate Lowe and Trevino to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Ronald Guzman struck out looking at a 96 mph fastball.
To that point, the Padres had two hits against Foltynewicz and reliever Kyle Cody, who retired them in order in the eighth.
Foltynewicz, who allowed four runs in four innings in his first start of the season, was evidently determined to not be like his two predecessors.
The Padres had run Kohei Arihar and Jordan Lyles from the previous two games in four and 4 2/3 innings, respectively. Arihara threw 73 pitches, Lyles 78.
Foltynewicz came in going right after the Padres hitters. He threw eight pitches in the first inning, nine in the second and all but four were strikes. The right-hander got through three innings in 32 pitches, all but five of them four-seam fastballs or sinkers.
The second time through the order didn’t start so well for the right-hander, as Grisham turned on the second pitch he saw and rocketed it 400 feet and into the stands beyond right field for his second home run in two days.
Foltynewicz would stay on the attack after that misplaced 94 mph fastball in the middle of the strike zone. He got through six innings in 75 pitches and did not allow another hit until Eric Hosmer’s single leading off the seventh.
A two-out walk by Tommy Pham put runners at first and second, the first of just two times the Padres had two baserunners, before Victor Caratini grounded out.
Machado’s homer off Ian Kennedy leading off the ninth began a relative offensive burst by the Padres. After Eric Hosmer lined out to center field, Wil Myers doubled and Jake Cronenworth singled. The inning ended when Myers was caught in a rundown trying to score on a grounder by Tommy Pham and a fly out to center by Caratini.
Mark Melancon earned his fifth save by retiring three Rangers on 13 pitches.
The Padres are 7-3, tied for the third-best start in their history. The two times they began 8-2, in 1984 and 1998, they ended up playing in the World Series.
