Bogaerts sparks SD with first homer for new team
SAN DIEGO — Xander Bogaerts is making himself proper at house in San Diego. Eleven extra years of this? Yeah, the Padres will take it.
Bogaerts smacked his first house run along with his new group on Saturday evening, sparking the Padres’ first win of the season, 8-4, over the Rockies at Petco Park.
“It’s an offense that — I’ll put it up against anyone,” Bogaerts mentioned. “And you’d still feel pretty confident about our chances.”
But was Bogaerts who obtained issues began. With two outs within the backside of the primary inning, he pulverized a knee-high fastball and despatched it to the second deck in left area, a two-run homer to place the Padres in entrance.
“Felt good, man,” Bogaerts mentioned. “I turned on an inside pitch, down and in. It was a good swing. … Off the bat, you know that it’s gone.”
Bogaerts has opened his Padres tenure with hits in every of his first three video games, together with a three-hit evening within the group’s Opening Day loss to the Rockies. He is the primary Padre to report at the least 5 hits in his first three video games with the membership since Freddy Galvis in 2018.
Bogaerts has additionally given the Padres some flexibility within the high half of their lineup. He batted first on Friday evening in opposition to left-hander Kyle Freeland. He has batted within the cleanup spot within the two different video games in opposition to righties.
“He can really hit, I know that,” Padres supervisor Bob Melvin mentioned. “And he likes to hit in different spots in the lineup, too. It’s fluctuated a little bit here early on, and you’d like to have some stability with our guys. But we’re trying to find it. … It’ll probably be a little bit more stable when [Fernando Tatis Jr.] comes back.”
When Tatis returns from his PED suspension after the primary 20 video games, Bogaerts is anticipated to fit into the No. 4 spot on a extra everlasting foundation. Based on the primary have a look at his aggressive-yet-disciplined strategy, he ought to match proper in behind Tatis, Soto and Machado.
“He’s a pretty special hitter obviously, and he’s off to a pretty good start,” Cronenworth mentioned. “He’s finished it for years. That’s one of many issues we want in our lineup, simply any person who can go up there and never swing simply to swing. He’s not seeking to stroll or simply get on base. He’s seeking to do injury each time.
“I think having a guy in the middle of the order like that — it’s pretty good for us. It complements the rest of our lineup very well.”
The Padres largely cruised after Bogaerts’ first-inning homer, although they ran right into a little bit of hassle within the sixth. The Rockies trailed by 4 getting into the body, however every of their first 4 hitters reached base, together with three through extra-base hit.
After C.J. Cron’s third homer of the sequence lower the Padres’ result in one, Ryan McMahon laced a double into the right-field nook. Out of nowhere, right-hander Michael Wacha was on the ropes in his Padres debut.
And then he wasn’t. Wacha deftly escaped hassle, just like the 11-year veteran that he’s. He struck out Elehuris Montero, then induced a pair popups to flee the menace.
“Look, you’ve got to dig deep there,” Melvin mentioned. “… All of a sudden it’s a one-run game. That definitely gets his attention, and you have to push it a little bit harder. He got us a couple big outs.”
The Padres responded with a run within the backside of the body and two extra within the eighth on Soto’s single. Making his season debut, Josh Hader nailed down the ninth, hanging out a pair.
For the primary time this season, the 2023 Padres appeared like, properly, the 2023 Padres — the model anticipated to compete for all of baseball’s greatest prizes.
After the offseason they only had, it was solely becoming that Bogaerts was on the middle of it.
