San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt has defended closer Robert Suarez lately but the question must be asked: Does a likely playoff-bound team with World Series dreams have a serious question to answer about Suarez?
The Padres’ 3-2, 10-inning win over the Chicago White Sox on Friday went extra innings only because Suarez allowed his third critical homer in the last 15 days. Lenyn Sosa handed him his third blown save in that span with a two-strike, two-out homer in the ninth inning.
If there’s a save situation for San Diego when it tries for a series win Saturday night against visiting Chicago, will Suarez get the call? Manager Mike Shildt still seems to have confidence in his closer, who has 33 saves and six blown saves on the season.
“I will take him tomorrow in a one-run game, I will tell you that,” Shildt said Sunday after a 4-3, 10-inning win in San Francisco that saw Suarez surrender a game-tying homer to Heliot Ramos that sent the game to extras.
That worry aside, the Padres (88-66) made significant strides toward clinching a playoff spot. Their magic number is down to three entering Saturday night’s game after the Atlanta Braves’ 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins.
They own a two-game lead on the Arizona Diamondbacks for the National League’s first wild-card spot and remain four games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West lead.
San Diego will send left-hander Martin Perez (4-5, 4.36 ERA) to the mound on Saturday. Perez received a no-decision on Sunday, allowing one run on two hits in five innings with a walk and two strikeouts. He’s 2-0 with a 2.72 ERA in eight starts with the Padres, who are 7-1 in his games since he was acquired in a July trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Perez is 4-3 with a 5.50 ERA in nine career starts against the White Sox, who have touched him for 63 hits and 35 runs over 54 innings.
Meanwhile, Chicago (36-118) is just two losses away from tying the 1962 New York Mets for the most losses in a year in MLB history. It appeared for a moment that it might delay the march to infamy after Sosa’s homer but it instead couldn’t cash in the automatic runner in the 10th, then lost two pitches into the bottom of the inning on a game-winning hit by Fernando Tatis Jr.
The White Sox turn to Chris Flexen (2-14, 5.09), who received a no-decision in their 7-6 win over Oakland last Saturday. Flexen tossed five scoreless innings, allowing six hits and two walks while struck out eight. He’s struggled in four previous outings against San Diego, going 1-2 with an 8.78 ERA and yielding 22 hits in 13 1/3 innings.
Flexen is hopeful he can duplicate the efficient, dominant performance of teammate Garrett Crochet. Pitching the first four innings Friday night, Crochet permitted just one hit and no walks, striking out eight in a performance interim manager Grady Sizemore praised.
“As good as he’s looked all year,” Sizemore said of Crochet. “They looked like they weren’t getting good swings on him at all. The ball was coming out. It was electric.”
–Field Level Media
