Taylor Ward did Monday night what few opponents have been able to this year: silence the crowd at Petco Park. His two-out grand slam capped a come-from-behind, six-run ninth inning that gave the visiting Los Angeles Angels a 9-5 win over the San Diego Padres.
Los Angeles will try to ride that momentum into a series win on Tuesday night when it plays the middle contest of a three-game set with San Diego.
Two outs away from a defeat where the defining features would have been a defensive mistake — Yusei Kikuchi’s two-run throwing error on a simple comebacker to the mound — and the inability to get anything done when the game went to the bullpens, the Angels instead flipped the script.
They took advantage of shocking wildness from Padres closer Robert Suarez, who walked four straight hitters after allowing a hit with one out, to tie the game.
Alek Jacob came on to replace Suarez and struck out Jorge Soler for the second out. Ward then delivered his ninth homer of the season to seal arguably the team’s most exciting win of the year.
Suarez woke up Monday with 15 saves and a 0.51 ERA. He went to sleep with his first blown save of the season, first loss and a 3.00 ERA.
“Amazing. Amazing,” Ward said before letting out a sigh. “I’m going to soak in every minute of this.”
Padres manager Mike Shildt wasn’t about to criticize his closer.
“We’ve seen a lot of greatness from Robert Suarez, to the point of borderline actually being spoiled,” Shildt said. “Some days, you’ve got to prove you’re human.”
As an encore to its win, Los Angeles will look for a good start from right-hander Jose Soriano (2-4, 4.00 ERA) against San Diego. He most recently pitched on Thursday, lasting five innings in a no-decision during an 8-5 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Soriano allowed eight hits and three runs with four walks and six strikeouts.
In his only career start against San Diego, which came last June 5, Soriano earned a 3-2 win. He gave up two runs (one earned) in six innings.
The Padres will counter with righty Dylan Cease (1-2, 4.91), who hasn’t won since April 2 against the Cleveland Guardians. Cease is coming off his best outing of the year, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning Wednesday night on the road against the New York Yankees before Cody Bellinger homered with one out.
Cease left one out later with forearm cramps, having struck out nine and walking two. The Padres lost 4-3 in 10 innings.
Despite the loss, there was good news for the Padres. Veteran starter Yu Darvish appears on track to make his first rehab start for Triple-A El Paso Wednesday night in Las Vegas.
Darvish, who was sidelined during spring training by elbow inflammation, threw 48 pitches in a simulated game on Thursday.
“I think we’re going to trust a guy who has 200 professional wins and 3,000 strikeouts to create his path,” Shildt said of Darvish.
–Field Level Media
