Kyle Phillips’s 10th inning homer off of George Sherrill was enough to seal a 3-2 win for the San Diego Padres on Memorial Day. The brother of former Met, Jason Phillips, crushed his first ever big league blast into the right field seats on the second pitch of extra frames. Fortunately for Phillips, a Braves patron was disgusted enough to chuck the memorabilia back towards Mather, who had taken over in right late in the game.
Today’s match was the eighth extra-inning game of the last 18 and was one that could have swung the Braves’ way had it not been for a few blunders in the field. A Hudson throwing error allowed Eric Patterson to advance to third and later score on a groundout by Ryan Ludwick. It didn’t take long for the Braves to even up the score at one apiece, though. McCann ripped a double into deep left center that scored Prado from first in the bottom half of the inning.
Then, once again in the third, the Braves missed an opportunity to double up the Padres ace, Aaron Harang, on a fly ball to center fielder Jordan Schafer. The inexperienced base runner was caught too far off of second, but Schafer’s throw was off the mark, and Dan Uggla bobbled the ball to further ensure that the pitcher got back safely. Harang ultimately booked it home in the graceful fashion that you would expect from a pitcher of his body type, driven in by Ryan Ludwick. McCann wasted no time in tying the game up for a second time, though, driving in Martin Prado once more.
Scott Proctor and Cory Gearrin pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings, respectively after Hudson finished six strong frames. Venters got into a one-out bases-loaded jam in the top half of the ninth before inducing a game-saving 3-2-3 double play from pinch hitter Jorge Cantu. The third score was the charm for the Padres though, as neither McCann nor any other Brave could answer in the bottom of the tenth following the Phillips tater.
Fortunately, Hudson looked to be back to full health after missing his last start with a lower back strain. He notched an impressive seven strikeouts, five hits, and just one earned run in six and walked no one.
The offense will get going tomorrow…