Fish Squish Stults as Early Runs & Turner Gem Lead to Padres Loss

Stults lost his sixth game of the season tonight. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Fresh off of their 9-2 romp last night, the Friars looked poised to break out offensively against the Marlins once again this evening.  Unfortunately for San Diego, Miami won the game 7-1 on the strength of some early offense and a complete-game gem by Jacob Turner.

Eric Stults‘ early-game mistakes were cost him dearly when Marcell Ozuna hit a single to center field with runners on first and second base in the first inning.  The hit itself scored both runners and it also allowed Ozuna to reach third when the ball was misplayed by Alexi Amarista.  Ozuna then scored on a sacrifice fly off of the bat of Placido Polanco, and the Padres were in a 3-0 hole before the second inning started.

The issues did not end for Stults in the bottom of the first like they did last night for Edinson Volquez.  Sadly for San Diego’s starter, the bottom of the fourth was when Miami’s hitters finally broke the game wide-open.  Before he could even record an out in the inning, the veteran left-hander surrendered three runs on a walk and three singles.  Thankfully for the Friars, Tim Stauffer came on to put out the fire for Stults when he closed the inning before any more runs could score.

I for one give Stauffer credit for pitching 3.1 innings of one run ball, especially because the long reliever saved San Diego’s bullpen extra work in the process after Stults only lasted 3.2 innings.  Stauffer’s relief efforts were too little too late, especially since Miami’s starter was in fine form all evening long.

Turner in my opinion was the real star of tonight’s game.  He had excellent command of the strike zone, and the Friars simply could not put runners on base on a consistent basis to do any sort of damage.  Although they were aggressive, the balls in play did not fall and Turner did a solid job of strike-throwing as he controlled both sides of the plate during his complete game victory.

Overall, the Friars only mustered one run on seven hits as their hitters failed to chip away at Miami’s early lead.  Outside of a Nick Hundley’s run scoring double in the top of the fifth, Turner handled San Diego’s lineup with relative ease as he won his second game of the season.

Tomorrow, Andrew Cashner will be tasked with putting the Friars over the .500 mark once again in game three of the Friars’ series with the Marlins.  I certainly hope that he can keep Miami off of the scoreboard in the early going, and I hope that San Diego’s hitters can recapture some of their offensive momentum from game one on Friday.

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