In a game played over two days, the Padres hardly stopped scoring and backed up a record rout with another lesser one.
On Sunday afternoon, they held on and added on to beat the Nationals 10-4 in the game that was suspended in the middle of the sixth inning Saturday night after a shooting on a street next to Nationals Park.
That followed Friday’s 24-8 victory, a game in which the Padres scored more runs than they ever had. This marked the first time the Padres have scored in double digits in successive nine-inning games since Aug. 5 and 7, 2018, against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Padres’ 34 runs in the past two games are the franchise’s most ever in consecutive games, as are their 40 hits.
While the Padres offense has for a month been among the best in baseball — possessing the major leagues’ top OPS (.890) in 27 games since June 16 — there are concerns for the club.
Starting pitcher Blake Snell continued having trouble throwing strikes Saturday, as he did well to just make it through four innings having allowed four runs on six hits and four walks.
And so, even as the Padres have won two games to start the second half and are 15 games over .500, a big question persists: How will this team make it to, much less advance in, the postseason with such shoddy starting pitching?
Whatever the answer is, there is a trade deadline and 67 games to navigate.
For now, they are pleased to be hitting and scoring a lot.
That has been enough the past two games.
After scoring in eight of nine innings Friday night, the Padres scored in the first three innings Saturday and then four more in the half-inning immediately preceding the game’s suspension. They scored two more in their first inning after the game resumed to extend their lead to 10-4.
Tommy Pham was 3-for-3 with two walks. Fernando Tatis Jr. went 4-for-5 and drove in two runs. Manny Machado was 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Jake Cronenworth was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
The teams will conclude the series with a game that started at 3:05 p.m. ET. Joe Musgrove starts for the Padres against the Nationals and Max Scherzer.
Snell, who entered the game having not allowed a run in nine innings over his previous two starts, gave up a run in the first on two walks and a single and three runs in the third on a single, a walk and Ryan Zimmerman’s three-run homer that cut the Nationals’ deficit to 5-4.
With the Padres clinging to that one-run lead, Tingler kept Snell in to pitch the fourth inning against the top of the Nationals order. The left-hander promptly yielded a bunt single by Alcides Escobar before getting Trea Turner on a double play grounder and striking out Juan Soto.
Craig Stammen pitched a scoreless fifth inning. Pierce Johnson, who was running in from the bullpen when the shots echoed through the ballpark Saturday, started the sixth Sunday and did not allow a run. Tim Hill pitched a perfect seventh and Austin Adams struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth. Miguel Díaz allowed two singles before finishing the ninth with three straight outs.
