Welcome to the Padres-Dodgers rivalry.
It was quite an introduction.
Playing his first game in his new ballpark, Arraez received a standing ovation early Friday night. Hours later, he sent those fans home happy, belting a single to end a tense pitchers’ duel with a 2-1 victory in San Diego in front of a sold-out Petco Park.
“It’s amazing,” said Arraez, who joined the Padres last Saturday in a trade with the Marlins. “It’s a different energy, and when I get it, I’ll do something good.”
Arraez’s spectacular takedown ensured that a dominant outing from starter Michael King would not go to waste. Facing perhaps the toughest lineup in the sport, King pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out 11.
Luis Campusano’s solo homer off Tyler Glasnow gave the Padres the lead early on.
Los Angeles tied the game in the eighth, but that only set the stage for Arraez’s exploits. Campusano led off the ninth with a double before Dodgers right-hander Michael Grove left a fastball to the heart of the plate.
“I don’t try to do too much,” Arraez said. “I’m just me here. When I saw the hole in the middle, I just said, ‘OK, if he throws me that pitch, down the middle, I just want to hit him up the middle.’
Arraez is one of those rare hitters with the ability to hit a baseball where he wants to hit a baseball. And that’s exactly what he did. When pinch runner Tyler Wade came up to score from second, Arraez was quickly mobbed by his teammates on the infield. Petco Park went into a frenzy.
“A big fan of my new teammate,” King said with a smile.
There were, of course, many reasons behind the Padres’ surprising early-season trade for Arraez, a two-time batting champion. They needed a left-handed stick to balance their offense. They needed a base threat at the top of their order. They needed an extra hitter to lengthen – or even complete – their lineup.
But sum it all up and, well, the Padres acquired Arraez because they want to win. They want to win NOW. The Dodgers are the favorites in the NL West and the team most directly standing in the way of that goal.
It’s only May. The Dodgers remain a force, and they’ve already built a considerable cushion in the standings, having entered play Friday on a seven-game winning streak. But no team has faced them harder than the Padres, who now account for four of Los Angeles’ 14 losses this season.
“It was amazing,” Arraez said. “We won. We put teamwork into it. Really good game for (Campusano), the pitchers. That game was unbelievable. Winning the first game of the series, it’s a good start for us.
It was a good start for Arraez, who spent Thursday’s day off trying to sort out his housing situation while picking up his wife, mother and daughter from the airport. In his first week with his new club, he hit .375, crowning him with his biggest hit to date.
“This guy just has a special talent,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “…What a welcome to Petco Park.”
For most of the evening, Arraez’s home debut took a back seat to the duel taking place on the mound. Glasnow dominated for seven frames, striking out 10 Padres. But King was better.
The Dodgers only had two hits against King, both hitting softly to the opposite field. With dizzying moves on his sinker and changeup, King induced a career-high 19 swings and misses.
“It was just a good baseball game,” Shildt said. “Good pitching, both sides – not much that either pitcher was going to give you.”
“I thought it was almost a run to the bullpen,” King added. “Because you didn’t know what you were going to get out of their pen, and Glasnow was dominating.”
In this bullpen battle, the Dodgers struck first, scoring their only run on Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly. But Yuki Matsui escaped trouble when Ha-Seong King deftly made a double play on Max Muncy’s slow grounder.
Padres closer Robert Suarez continued his early-season dominance with a scoreless start to the ninth. Then, with the winning run at second base, the new Padre moved up – the sport’s most prolific hitter in terms of batting average over the past few seasons.
“You set up that inning, put the guy on second, you feel pretty good when he comes in,” Shildt said.
Arraez wasted no time building confidence in his new manager, his new team and his new city.
News Source : www.mlb.com
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