Masterful Outing By Stults Pulls Padres Off The Mat, Losing Streak Ends at 10

Stults did a fantastic job on the mound tonight. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

Holy Macaroni!

I never thought that I would get so excited over a meaningless game in the middle of July.  Nevertheless, it was sure nice to see the Friars beat the Rockies by a score of 2-1 and exercise their recent demons in the process

Tonight was a classic “pitchers’ duel” as the Padres and Rockies received tremendous outings from their starters.

Eric Stults looked downright fantastic through the game’s first eight innings. Outside of the two walks he issued in the top of the fourth, the veteran left-hander kept the Rockies off of the base-paths and the scoreboard.  Something I might add which no Padre starter had done over the course of the last two weeks.

The soft-tossing veteran did a terrific job of pitching to contact and kept Colorado’s hitters off-balance during the entirety of his outing.  It was similar to the other complete game he pitched in June against the Diamondbacks.  Over his nine strong innings on the mound, Stults allowed four hits, struck out five, and was only scored upon in the final frame of the game.

Kudos must also go to Stults for his work with the bat tonight as San Diego’s starter recorded two hits in his three at-bats.

To his credit, Jhoulys Chacin matched San Diego’s starter almost pitch for pitch during his six innings of work.  Some of the hits Chacin did allow though were of the “extra base” variety, and a run-scoring triple by Alexi Amarista made the right-hander pay in the bottom of the third.  Amarista’s triple aside, Colorado’s starter did a fine job while he kept his team within striking-distance all night long.

After Chacin left the game though, the Padres tallied an important insurance run in the bottom of the seventh.  Amarista again came through once again when he blooped an opposite field single which scored Nick Hundley.  Had the Friars not plated Hundley, Nolan Arenado’s run scoring single in the top of the ninth would have tied the game.  Thankfully, the two-run cushion was enough for Stults to work with as he went on to record his second complete game and seventh victory of the 2013 campaign.

Final Thoughts

Was the win “sexy?”  Heck no.  The Friars left entirely too many men on base in scoring position with less that two outs for me to be entirely stoked about their collective performance this evening.

But you know what, readers?

The Friars finally broke through and ended their miserable losing streak!

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