Crédito: fuente
The San Diego Padres survived on Thursday night at Petco Park. They’ll try to advance on Friday. The Padres hit five home runs in an epic come-from-behind win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series (SD 11, STL 9). The two clubs will play the winner-take-all Game 3 on Friday night (7:08 p.m. ET on ESPN).
The Cardinals are no doubt disappointed in the Game 2 loss but they can feel comfortable knowing staff ace Jack Flaherty will be on the mound in Game 3 on Friday. The Padres? They had «no idea» who would start Game 3, manager Jayce Tingler said after Game 2.
«I have no idea what we’re going to do with our pitching,» Tingler told reporters, including Field Level Media, after Game 2. «… My guess is we’re going to get a great effort from whomever we use, and it will be a number of guys. The bullpen has been prepared and ready. They kept us in the game.»
Friday afternoon, the Padres announced veteran righty reliever Craig Stammen will start Game 3. It will be Stammen’s first start since 2010. He’s made 408 relief appearances since then, including 24 with a 5.63 ERA this season. Stammen threw a scoreless inning in Game 1.
«We’ve got a lot of guys that have thrown a lot of innings,» Tingler told reporters, including Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune, on Friday. «We’re going to go with Craig, get the ball in his hand at the beginning and get as many outs as possible and from there we’re going to have to put it together.»
The Padres are without top starters Dinelson Lamet and Mike Clevinger this series — and possibly the entire postseason — because of arm injuries. Chris Paddack had an underwhelming regular season and lasted only 2 1/3 innings in Game 1. Zach Davies had a great regular season but went only two innings in Game 2. Paddack and Davies allowed 10 runs in their 4 1/3 combined innings.
Tingler used nine different relievers in Games 1 and 2, including six relievers in both games. Rookie righty Luis Patino and veterans Dan Altavilla and Tim Hill are the only Padres hurlers on the active roster who have not yet appeared in the Wild Card Series. Here are the pitch counts of the nine relievers who have appeared in the series:
Only once during the regular season did the Padres use a reliever on back-to-back-to-back days and the question is not whether they will use someone for a third straight day in Game 3, but who will it be, how many will it be, and how effective will they be? Pomeranz, Richards, and Rosenthal have a history of arm injuries and could be compromised pitching again Friday.
«We’re going to have guys going back-to-back-to-back. They’ve thrown a ton of pitches. We don’t know how it’s going to play out,» Tingler told Sanders. «What we do know, what we’re confident in, is we’re going to have a group of guys, especially on the pitching side, especially out of the bullpen, that they are going to lay everything they have out there tonight. Where that takes us we’ll see.»
At 20 years and 342 days, Patino is the youngest player on a postseason roster this year and he is one of the game’s great prospects. The right-hander struggled during the regular season though, allowing 10 runs in 17 1/3 innings in his MLB debut. He struck out 21 but also walked 14, and made just one start compared to 10 relief appearances.
That said, Patino is the freshest arm in the bullpen and is capable of providing length — he had a 2.57 ERA with 123 strikeouts in 94 2/3 minor league innings last year — so Tingler may have no choice to but to ask him for innings. Our R.J. Anderson ranked Patino as the No. 46 prospect in baseball before the season:
Luis Patino is listed at 6-foot, 192 pounds, which makes it tempting to bet that his future is in the bullpen. Yet he’ll pitch next season as a 20-year-old, and his combination of stuff (he has a lively above-average fastball and a suitable out pitch in his slider) and polish suggests he deserves the chance to continue starting until his body and/or his results say otherwise. There are a few areas where Patino shows his age, beginning with his lagging changeup and extending to his workload … The other aspect he needs to continue to work on is his command … Patino still has a wide of range of potential outcomes — with further development, he’s a front-of-the-rotation starter; without, maybe he’s just a high-leverage reliever — and that’s okay.
A possible Game 3 wild card: Paddack. He threw 46 pitches in the Game 1 loss, and although a normal between-starts routine would have him throw a bullpen session Saturday, the Padres could ask him to throw an inning in Game 3 on Friday given his low pitch count in Game 1 (relative to a full start) and their pitching circumstances. I don’t think it’ll happen — Paddack has had Tommy John surgery and is too important to the team’s long-term future — but maybe he’s an emergency option.
The Padres came into the Wild Card Series planning a bullpen game in Game 3 because of the Lamet and Clevinger injuries. Games 1 and 2 turning into quasi-bullpen games because Paddack and Davies struggled and bowed out early was definitely not part of the plan though, and it puts the team in a real bind going into Game 3. Their pitching staff is pretty tired overall.
Of course, this is the postseason, and even with no fans in attendance postseason adrenaline can be the great equalizer. Case in point: Liam Hendriks. The Athletics closer threw 49 high stress pitches in his team’s Game 2 win on Wednesday, then came back and didn’t just close out the Game 3 win on Thursday, he threw his five fastest pitches of the season in the outing. The Padres will hope some of their bullpen arms get that postseason adrenaline boost Friday.
San Diego’s bullpen worked very hard in Games 1 and 2 but I have no doubt every reliever, including the guys who pitched in both games, will be available in Game 3. The only questions are how Tingler will navigate nine innings, how (or if) Patino fits, and whether anyone will be ineffective given their recent workload. The NLDS begins Tuesday. Three days of rest are on the horizon if the bullpen can provide one more Herculean effort in Game 3.
