It was “singles night” at PETCO Park Thursday night for the San Diego Padres, as they battered the Brewers with 13 singles, with no extra-base hits, to a final score of 9-0.
Who says singles can’t have a good time?
Wade LeBlanc continued dishing donuts and combined with Tim Stauffer for a shutout of the normally slugging Brew Crew.
LeBlanc pitched 6.1 shutout innings, continuing his current streak of just one run allowed over his past 17.1 innings pitched
He picked off his major league-leading fifth runner of the young season in the first inning. To top it off, LeBlanc even contributed at the plate with a career-high three singles, raising his season batting average to .667.
Padres management will have a difficult decision to make with the imminent return of preseason presumptive staff ace Chris Young.
Although LeBlanc was a call-up from AAA-Portland to replace CY in the rotation when the big man went down, there is absolutely no plausible reason to move Wade LeBlanc to anything but his next scheduled turn in the starting rotation.
So far this season, LeBlanc’s record is 2-0, and his ERA is a minuscule 0.52.
Backups Oscar Salazar and Yorvit Torrealba made significant contributions to the Friars’ series-opening victory. Salazar took full advantage of a rare start in right field and had two hits and the team’s first run batted in to get things rolling in the Pads’ four-run bottom of the fourth inning.
Torrealba not only did a splendid job defensively behind home plate but also excelled with the bat by providing two hits and three runs batted in.
The Friars broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth inning with seven consecutive hits, scoring five additional runs.
At that point the Brewers waved the white flag, saved their bullpen, and called upon reliever Jeff Suppan to mop up the rest of the game and get the Brew Crew to their hotel for the night.
Bud Black will send Clayton Richard (0-2, 3.75 ERA) to the hill tonight as the Padres look to give the lefty his first win of the season and extend their home winning streak to eight.
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