The Sports Xchange
Aug 31, 2017
SAN DIEGO -- Travis Wood and Jose Pirela homered, and four relief pitchers retired 14 of the 16 batters they faced Wednesday night as the San Diego Padres shut out the San Francisco Giants 5-0 in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Five Padres pitchers combined on a six-hitter as San Diego defeated San Francisco for the ninth time in the past 12 meetings. The Padres are 19-7 against the Giants since losing their first nine games against San Francisco to open the 2016 season.
Reliever Craig Stammen, who worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth inning, got the win to even his record at 2-2. Brad Hand picked up his 14th save of the season and his second in as many nights.
Wood turned in an uneven performance.
The Padres starter homered with one out in the third inning to give San Diego a 1-0 lead. The 387-foot drive off Giants starter Ty Blach (8-11) was the only run of the first five innings. The homer was the 10th of Wood's career plus a postseason homer he hit last season against the Giants.
However, Wood struggled on the mound. In 4 1/3 innings, he allowed six hits and four walks and departed with the bases loaded with his pitch count at 97. The Giants, though, couldn't score against Wood and Stammen, who entered the game with the bases loaded for the seventh time this season and didn't allow a run to score for the sixth time.
Stammen struck out Hunter Pence, then retired Nick Hundley on a grounder to second to end the threat.
The Giants left 10 runners on base, grounded into two double plays in the first three innings and went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
After Stammen retired the Giants in order on three fly balls to Pirela in left field in the sixth, the Padres scored three times in their half of the inning off Blach and reliever Kyle Crick.
Pirela made it 2-0 with his ninth homer, a 384-foot drive off Blach landing on the second balcony of the Western Metal Supply Co. building in left.
Wil Myers followed with a double. After he moved to third on an infield out, Crick replaced Blach and immediately threw a wild pitch, allowing Myers to score to make it 3-0. Crick then walked Jabari Blash, who came around on singles by Cory Spangenberg and Austin Hedges, the catcher getting his 50th RBI of the season.
Two infield errors and a one-out RBI single by Blash upped the Padres' lead to 5-0 in the eighth.
NOTES: Padres SS Erick Aybar, who has been on the disabled list since July 23 with a fracture in his right foot, is headed for the rookie-level Arizona League for a few days games before possibly rejoining the Padres as a September call-up. ... Giants C Buster Posey missed a third consecutive game with a bone bruise and inflammation to his left thumb. He is expected to return to the lineup Thursday as San Francisco opens a four-game homestand against the St. Louis Cardinals. ... RHP Johnny Cueto (flexor tendon strain) threw a bullpen session Wednesday, and he could return to the Giants' rotation this weekend. ... Pitchers had four of the game's first eight hits. Giants LHP Ty Blach was 2-for-2, Padres LHP Travis Wood homered, and RHP Craig Stammen singled.