CHICAGO — The Padres weathered their first real pitching predicament of the season Wednesday night.
And more.
Ryan Weathers came up from Triple-A to give them 3 2/3 innings in his first major league start since September, the bullpen chipped in like it rarely has had to this season and the Padres continued to pound the pathetically thin Cubs pitching staff en route to a 19-5 victory at Wrigley Field.
It was the first game in Padres history in which every starter had at least one hit, one RBI and one run scored.
On a night that was only slightly less hot and humid and gross than the one before, the Padres scored in double digits for the second straight game. It was the first time they had done that since 2016. It was the fifth time in franchise history they scored 19 runs or more.
Among the Padres’ season-high 21 hits were 11 extra-base hits, their most in a game since May 28, 2008. In the fifth inning alone, Jorge Alfaro, Jurickson Profar and Luke Voit doubled, Ha-Seong Kim tripled and Manny Machado homered.
The Padres scored 12 unanswered runs in a 12-5 victory Tuesday and on Wednesday turned a 4-2 deficit into an 11-4 lead with three runs in the fourth inning and six runs in the fifth. The Cubs, who have lost nine straight, interrupted the string with a run in the sixth inning before the Padres added five runs in the seventh.
Machado got his 1,500th career hit with an RBI single in the first inning and his 1,501st with a two-run homer in the fifth. A single in the seventh put him at 1,502.
It really couldn’t have gone better on a night the Padres, winners of three straight, needed it to.
Weathers threw strikes in his first inning in the major leagues since last season. Then in the second inning, he threw a lot of balls and a few balls that were too far inside the strike zone.
But the four runs the Cubs scored in the second were the only ones he allowed.
The 22-year-old left-hander departed with two outs and two on and the Padres up 5-4 in the fourth. Craig Stammen ended the fourth with a fly ball out, pitched a scoreless fifth and allowed Christopher Morel’s leadoff home run in the sixth before retiring the next two batters.
Steven Wilson ended the sixth with a strikeout and pitched a scoreless seventh before Kyle Tyler blanked the Cubs over the final two innings.
The Padres had not found themselves in this situation before Wednesday. Good health and good pitching had carried them through 63 games without having had to call up a fill-in starting pitcher from the minor leagues. And only once, in the season’s second game, did they ask a reliever to start in a pinch.
By this time last year, they had cobbled together five “bullpen games.” Through 63 games, their bullpen had had to cover at least five innings 21 times and at least four innings 38 times.
This year, thanks to good health and starting pitchers going at least six innings a major league-leading 38 times, the Padres’ bullpen had worked five or more innings in just seven games and four or more in just 13 games going into Wednesday.
Weathers earned his way on the Padres’ roster out of spring training in 2021, but it was not his performance that got him here this time. He was pitching here Wednesday mostly because he was available.
Padres starters — particularly Joe Musgrove, Yu Darvish and Sean Manaea — have been going deep in games. In a sort of cause and effect dynamic, the Padres have taken advantage of having so many capable starters by using a six-man rotation almost exclusively since the beginning of May.
Mike Clevinger going on the COVID injured list Saturday, the same day the Padres played a doubleheader, would have meant Musgrove starting on four days rest for the first time since May 1. Musgrove actually altered his between-starts bullpen schedule and intensity in anticipation of starting Wednesday before the Padres decided it was better to give him the extra/usual fifth day of rest. Musgrove (7-0, 1.50) has gone at least six innings and allowed no more than two earned runs in each of his 11 starts.
“It’s more about keeping Joe on six days more than anything else,” acting manager Ryan Flaherty said Tuesday night.
Flaherty did add the Padres expected to get a good outing from Weathers, but reality is that was going to be a bonus if it happened.
In Triple-A this year, Weathers has a 7.29 ERA in 12 starts (54 1/3 innings). This follows his having finished 2021 in a dive. Weathers began last season in the big leagues and had a 2.73 ERA through his first 18 games (12 starts, 62 2/3 innings) before finishing with a 5.62 ERA in 30 games (18 starts, 94 2/3 innings).
The Cubs are in far worse shape with their starting pitching. Veterans Drew Smyly (oblique), Marcus Stroman (shoulder) and Wade Miley (shoulder) are on the injured list.
Caleb Kilian made his second career start Wednesday. The 25-year-old right-hander allowed the Cardinals three runs in five innings in his major league debut June 4.
He allowed five runs in four innings to the Padres before a parade of relievers followed.
____
