Padres Daily: Some crazy Sheets; difference is at the end; Brewing up trouble

Good morning from Milwaukee,

It was maybe four or five of these magnificently improbable victories ago that I made the comment to Gavin Sheets that a team cannot keep winning in such a manner.

So now, after every time something like last night happens and the Padres secure a victory late, he has the same thing to say:

"You can't win a game in the first six innings."

He is smiling. His tone is teasing.

At least, I am pretty sure it is.

Because maybe he and all his buddies actually believe it since they are making a habit of winning games they should lose.

No, that is not stating it strongly enough. They are making a habit of winning games they have all but lost.

We have all seen Padres teams in recent years that didn't have this gene.

The 2023 crew, for instance, came back to win just 27 times and came back from multiple runs down just eight times. This Padres team already has 13 comebacks, eight of them from multiple runs down.

"I think we’re all pulling for each other," Sheets said. "It’s a testament to this clubhouse, I think from everybody - the bullpen, the starters, the position players, like everybody just is pulling for each other. Everybody is in the box together. And obviously the staff as well. You feel everybody behind you, and you know that everybody is not checked out and everybody actually believes that we’re gonna get it done. Because you can feel it both ways. You know when it’s defeated and you know when everybody is checked out and you’re kind of thinking about after the game already, and we don’t have that right now."

Not every one of the Padres' 13 victories that have been earned by scoring the decisive run in the seventh inning or later falls into the category of virtually impossible to fathom.

But the two they have pulled out of their backsides in the past four days certainly have.

You can read in my game story (here) about Sheets' history-making three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning that gave the Padres a 3-1 victory over the Brewers last night.

Just like on Sunday, when Nick Castellanos tied the game against the Cardinals with a two-out homer in the ninth inning, last night's game story was rewritten after the Padres had made 26 outs.

"At the end of the day we compete to 27 outs," Miguel Andujar said last night.

Thanks for the tip, Miggy.

The difference

The Padres are one of 10 teams to ever have had a run differential of no more than plus-3 and have won 25 of their first 42 games.

The 1960 Orioles were actually 27-15 with a plus-1 differential. The 1919 Indians were 26-16 with a plus-1 differential. Every other team on the list had the same 25-17 record as the Padres.

How the Padres are eight games above .500 with a plus-3 run differential is pretty simple.

They have been outscored 169-139 in the first eight innings and outscored opponents 38-5 after that.

"We've got to figure out a way to make the scoreboard say ‘9' all the time," manager Craig Stammen said.

We interrupt all the Padres' well-earned ecstasy to point out that is not possible and to say again that this is not sustainable.

But then we interrupt that thought to wonder whether it actually is sustainable.

That was sort of Stammen’s thought process, only in reverse, after last night's game when he talked about the Padres having seized upon an ability to come through when they absolutely have to.

"I think (it) is embracing what you’re good at," he said "And I guess we’re good at that. We’ve done it enough times that you can say that it’s something that we’re kind of solid at. So, you know, do you think that that’s going to last the whole season? Probably not. As baseball people, we kind of know that those … don’t just keep happening all year long. But so far, they have. And we'll keep working to be better early in the game."

My game story pointed out that the Padres and the 1968 Orioles are the only teams to ever have a winning percentage of at least .595 after 42 games when their team batting average was no higher than .222.

Both teams hit those numbers exactly. The difference is that the Orioles' .222 average 42 games into the 1968 season ranked 14th among 20 MLB teams, 21 points higher than the bottom team. The Padres' .22 average ranks 29th among 30 teams, two points higher than the Reds.

Holy clutch

Sheets' first hit with the Padres, on opening day last year, was a pinch-hit home run in the seventh inning that tied a game the Padres went on to win over the Braves.

It was the first of what is now 13 home runs by Sheets that have given the Padres a lead or tied a game. Six of those have come in the seventh inning or later. Four have come in the ninth inning or later.

Last night, he became the first player in MLB history to hit three go-ahead three-run home runs in the ninth inning in one season.

Here is what a clutch player thinks when he is on deck with two outs in a game his team trails by a run in the ninth inning:

"I want this at-bat. I want the moment."

Sheets recounted that last night of his thoughts while Xander Bogaerts was in the midst of drawing a six-pitch walk on the heels of Andujar's single.

"You just want the moment," Sheets said. "You just want them. I’ve been in points in my career where I didn’t want it that bad. I didn’t feel good. I didn’t want it. And I think you just tell your mind, you just continue to just repeat it to yourself. You want it. And then you get the moment, and you’re not not afraid of it."

Since the start of last season, Sheets' 18 go-ahead RBIs rank third on the Padres, one behind Jackson Merrill and 10 behind Manny Machado.

About the fifth

The Padres won the way they win after the Brewers scored the way they score.

They are a tough out all the way through. They have the fewest home runs in the major leagues but the eighth-most runs.

They make contact. They get on base.

"They’re a very scrappy team," Michael King said. "They definitely make you work for it.

A night after a five-run inning that featured them taking advantage of pitcher Matt Waldron's mental blunder after fielding a bunt, the key play for the Brewers in the fifth inning was a bunt to King.

With a runner on first and no outs, King fielded Joey Ortiz's bunt and turned to throw to first. But no one was there.

First baseman Ty France had crashed as Ortiz squared, and second baseman Fernando Tatis Jr. had been shifted practically to the bag at second.

That Tatis almost made it to first in time to get the throw from King and beat Ortiz is only because Tatis is a freak athlete.

The fault lied with France, who should not have run up.

"It's … a tough read," Stammen said. "It’s one of those situations (where) the shift has changed how we’ve all played baseball our whole lives, and that makes that a little bit different. So we’ve got to do a little bit better job of preparing for that - myself as the manager, getting those guys prepared for that, and the coaching staff also. These guys like to bunt, and they will test you on whether you’re dialed in on the bunt game. And so far, the last two games, we’ve given up a couple runs because of it."

What happened next was even more nuanced.

The following batter, Jackson Chourio, sent a grounder to Machado, who fielded the ball and ran Sal Frelick back toward second base before throwing to Tatis standing on the bag for a force out. Machado made the play thinking Tatis would then throw to Bogaerts at third to get Frelick.

But Bogaerts got a late jump from his spot at shortstop and never got to the bag, and Frelick was between Tatis and Bogaerts the entire time. So Tatis held the ball, leaving runners at the corner with one out.

"I had no lane to throw the ball," Tatis said. "So it was better just to eat it (and not) throw it away."

Machado took the blame, saying he should not have put Tatis in that situation given the fact he was making his 10th start at second base and before this season had not been an infielder since 2021.

"That’s a new position for him," Machado said. "That’s just a tough play for him. I should have just tagged the runner out and kept it first and second. I should have thought about it a little bit more."

The Brewers took their 1-0 lead when Brice Turang chopped a grounder to the right side that was too soft for the Padres to have a chance at a double play.

"To me, that’s Brewers baseball," King said. "They’re going to be disciplined in even their baserunning. I felt like they did a great job on the basepaths. Weird one to Manny and (Frelick) still was able to get out of a double play. I feel like most baserunners aren’t (going to do that). Frelick did a great job, where he baited him into it and then was still able to get third. So just little stuff like that that, over 162, they’re gonna win a lot of games by doing the little things right."

Hold it

Stammen pitched in as many high-leverage situations as almost any relief pitcher in the major leagues from 2017 through ‘19.

But he knows the difference between those Padres teams and this one.

"I was a setup man on a bad team," he said with a laugh before last night’s game. "When I was on good teams, I was pitching in yesterday's game."

By that he meant pitching when his team was trailing, trying to keep the deficit from growing to give the offense a chance to come back.

The former reliever has a special affinity for what has bullpen has done the past three games.

On Sunday against the Cardinals, two scoreless innings by Ron Marinaccio and one by Bradgley Rodriguez kept the Padres' deficit at two so they were in position to tie the game in the ninth and win in the 10th.

Against the Brewers on Tuesday night, left-handers Wandy Peralta and Yuki Matsui tried to be the ones to get the Padres there in what ended up being a loss. Peralta stranded a runner at third base after taking over for Waldron with two outs in the fourth and worked 2⅓ scoreless innings. Matsui followed with two scoreless innings.

Last night, it was actually the Padres' high-leverage relievers that Stammen used to chase the victory. Jeremiah Estrada took over for King with two outs and two on in the sixth inning, stranded those runners and then worked a scoreless seventh. Jason Adam allowed a hit but no runs in the eighth before Mason Miller moved into a tie with the Guardians' Cade Smith by locking down his 13th save in the ninth.

Stammen knows it takes a village to come from behind.

"Our comebacks are two-fold," he said. "One is our hitters not giving up and feeling like they’re never out of it. And the other part is our bullpen being able to hold the deficit. You only get credit for holds when you’re winning or saves when you’re winning, but those are holds and those are saves when you’re losing."

Getting past excellence

Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski was going to be the story last night. He still probably was everywhere except San Diego.

His first pitch, which began his first strikeout, was 102.6 mph. His 93rd pitch, which completed his 10th strikeout, was 103.2 mph.

That might be even more preposterous than his throwing a total of 40 pitches at least 100 mph, something that had never been done in a single game since pitch velocities began being tracked in 2008.

"He’s special," Sheets said.

Misiorowski has thrown 14 of the 18 pitches in MLB this season clocked at 103.0 mph or faster. Miller has thrown three, including the fastest, at 103.8 mph. The Dodgers' Edgardo Henriquez has thrown a pitch 103.2 mph.

The Padres finished with four hits against Misiorowski, none after the third inning. But that was twice as many as Misiorowski had allowed in his previous two starts. After his seven scoreless innings last night, he has gone 18⅔ innings without allowing a run. (Misiorowski warmed up before the eighth inning but was removed before throwing a pitch due to cramping in his quadriceps.)

There are 37 pitchers in the major leagues who have thrown at least 42 innings and are considered to have above-average "stuff" based on the metric Stuff-plus, which considers each pitch's velocity, spin and movement.

Misiorowski, who leads MLB in Stuff-plus, was the 10th of those pitchers with above-average stuff that the Padres have faced as either a starter or bulk reliever.

Those pitchers have a 2.22 ERA in 65 innings against the Padres. But the Padres are 8-5 in the 13 games in which they have faced those 10 pitchers.

"It’s definitely rewarding," Tatis said. "… Just being able to find a way to win ballgames. I mean, the game has (gone) to another level, and good teams find a way to just put one more run on than the other one."

Second thought

Sung-Mun Song was called up May 5 and started at second base in five of the next six games. The only game he sat was when the Padres faced Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore.

But given that left-hander Kyle Harrison starts for the Brewers today, Song probably won't start in the three games here.

Stammen acknowledged yesterday afternoon that Tatis has played more second base than initially anticipated.

"Maybe a little bit," Stammen said. "But Jake (Cronenworth) getting injured, Song being new to the big leagues, us trying to create a little bit more offense has something to do with that."

Song sat Tuesday against right-hander Brandon Sproat, who throws in the high 90s. And there was no chance Song was going to be in the lineup against Misiorowski. Song is still getting used to the higher velocity in MLB as compared to what he saw for nine seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization.

"I just don’t think it’s a great matchup for Song, but he’s definitely a valuable piece of our team," Stammen said. "He’s gonna be able to be able to play great defense for us, and there’ll be other matchups that are better for him where he’ll get some playing time."

After the Padres took the lead last night, Tatis moved to right field and Song subbed in at second base.

Tidbits

• Padres relievers, after a stretch of eight games in which they allowed 27 runs across 30⅔ innings, have allowed just six runs in 40⅓ innings over the past 12 games. (That latter total excludes the six runs allowed by Waldron in his 7⅔ innings as a bulk reliever but includes the two scoreless innings by Rodriguez, who served as the opener in the two games Waldron pitched.)
• Ramon Laureano lined out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning last night. With that, he stopped his strikeout streak at 24 games. That is the longest streak ever by a Padres position player in a single season. Pitcher Joey Lucchesi struck out in 28 consecutive games in 2019.
• Tatis had two of the Padres' four hits against Misiorowski and finished 2-for-4. His eight multi-hit games are fourth most on the team behind Bogaerts (12), Andujar (nine) and Merrill (nine).
• Tatis is 6-for-19 with four walks during a six-game on-base streak.
• Sheets also singled in the second inning. It was his seventh multi-hit game.
• The Padres are 6-14 when scoring three or fewer runs. They are 8-13 when getting six or fewer hits. Last night was their first win in three games in which they had exactly six hits and three runs.
• The Padres have had a better record after 42 games in five previous seasons. They were 25-17 in three seasons before this one. One of those was the covid-shortened 2020 season. The other two seasons were 2021 and 1985. They finished 79-83 in ‘21 and 83-79 in ‘85.

All right, that's it for me. Early game today (10:40 a.m. PT).

Talk to you tomorrow.

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