It’s a phrase San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt has used from his first minor league game, when he stood in a dugout in Johnson City, Tenn., to the game his team won in the bottom of the 11th inning Monday night on a sprint-off wild pitch.
“What do we say? Winners find solutions,” he said after Tyler Wade scored on a breaking ball in the dirt that secured a 4-3 victory over the visiting Miami Marlins.
San Diego will look for another solution Tuesday night when it aims for a series win over Miami.
The Padres trailed 3-0 before the second inning was over Monday but worked their way back into the game before earning their first extra-inning victory in four attempts this year. Wade’s aggressive dirt-ball read — the ball maybe caromed 10 feet to the right of catcher Liam Hicks — enabled San Diego to open a six-game homestand on a winning note.
Shildt inserted Wade as a pinch runner for Manny Machado after Gavin Sheets’ grounder to start the 11th got Machado to third. It was a spot where Shildt felt Wade’s speed could decide a game.
“You look at the lineup before the game and all the possible scenarios,” Shildt said. “We look at his name and he can do this, he can do that. When he fits, he fits. Tonight, he fit well.”
San Diego prevailed on a night when its offensive struggles continued. The Padres managed just five hits, none after Machado’s leadoff homer tied the game in the eighth. They have scored only 21 runs in the past 10 games, going 3-7 in that span.
Padres right-hander Stephen Kolek (2-1, 2.84 ERA) will make his fifth start of the season on Tuesday. He got a no-decision on Thursday in San Diego’s 7-6, 11-inning loss in Toronto, where he permitted four runs (three earned) and seven hits in six-plus innings. He walked three and struck out six.
In his only career outing against Miami, last May 29, Kolek yielded three hits and three runs in 1 1/3 innings of relief.
The Marlins will counter with right-hander Max Meyer (3-4, 4.15 ERA), who last worked on Wednesday in a no-decision as Miami lost 2-1 to the visiting Chicago Cubs. Meyer allowed one run on five hits and a walk in six innings, whiffing four.
He won his only career appearance against the Padres, a start on Aug. 11, 2024, when he gave up seven hits and four runs over 6 1/3 innings.
Miami missed on a chance to earn just its second three-game winning streak of the year Monday night, managing just one hit after Jesus Sanchez’s solo homer produced a 3-0 advantage in the second inning. The Marlins couldn’t cash in their automatic runner in either the 10th or 11th, leaving him at third both times.
Sanchez was perhaps their best hitter Monday night, reaching base three times to continue a recent stretch of solid work. Elevated to the leadoff spot recently after Xavier Edwards’ injury, Sanchez offers homer potential and can steal a base.
“We all know he can hit a fastball,” first-year manager Clayton McCullough said. “Any time Sanchy comes up there, you feel good about that at-bat. Jesus is doing a lot of good things for us.”
–Field Level Media
