SAN DIEGO_An eventful, sometimes painful week for the San Diego Padres ended Saturday in a 7-3 win against Detroit.
Hector Sanchez tattooed a pinch-hit, go-ahead home run in the eighth, and his teammates piled on. The victory involved yet another injury, this time to rookie Allen Cordoba, and a scare for first baseman Wil Myers. That San Diego did more damage than it apparently sustained was significant.
Monday, catcher Austin Hedges suffered a bruised thigh when Anthony Rizzo ran him over in front of home plate. Tuesday, second baseman Yangervis Solarte strained an oblique taking a pregame swing. Wednesday, right-hander Miguel Diaz exited a start with a strained forearm.
Friday, Hedges returned to the lineup. Solarte and Diaz went on the disabled list.
In the third inning Saturday, Cordoba took an 89 mph pitch from Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez off his left hand. The shortstop immediately went to the ground. A team athletic trainer rushed out of the dugout. After a few anxious minutes, Cordoba got to his feet and walked off the field.
The Padres later announced that Cordoba had been diagnosed with a hand contusion, the club's fourth injury in five games. Chase d'Arnaud, who had replaced Cordoba as a pinch-runner, stole second. He scored when Padres pitcher Dinelson Lamet laid down a sacrifice bunt and Sanchez threw the ball away.
In the fifth, shortly before Tigers replaced a 1-0 deficit with a 2-1 lead, Myers' tense moment arrived. Attempting to catch a throw, the first baseman instead had Detroit's Nick Castellanos run into his outstretched left wrist.
Castellanos was called out on batter's interference, but Myers, who immediately dropped his glove, was left grimacing. In 2015, he underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from the same wrist. After being checked on by a trainer, he remained in the game.
The Tigers scored twice in that inning, once thanks to a missed-catch error at home by Hedges. After Myers hit a game-tying sacrifice fly in the sixth, Detroit went back ahead in the seventh.
Lamet finished with six innings, tying his career high set in his previous start. The rookie allowed three runs, two earned, with one walk and five strikeouts.
The bottom of the eighth brought an extended rally, a rarity in this Padres season.
Following a leadoff walk by Erick Aybar, Sanchez smashed a drive over the right-field wall, giving San Diego a 4-3 lead. The catcher had come off the disabled list Friday, after spending six weeks on it. Both of his home runs this season have come in a pinch-hitting capacity.
The parade of baserunners continued. Carlos Asuaje singled with one out. Myers and Hunter Renfroe walked. Cory Spangenberg notched a two-run single. Hedges bunted for an RBI single.
The Padres moved above .500 at Petco Park, where they are 19-18. On the road, they are 12-26.
