By Liz Alper
Photo: San Diego Padres on Twitter
March 22, 2016 (Peoria, Az.) - The Padres sought to win three games in a row for the first time this spring against the Texas Rangers.
But in the first inning, Rougned Odor doubled and Mitch Moreland hit a sac fly on the next at-bat to drive in Odor and Shin-Soo Choo to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead right at the start of the ballgame.
To say “the Padres got it right back in their half of the first” would be an understatement. Derek Norris hit a two-run bomb of a homer to left field to even the score at two. But it didn’t stop there.
In their home half of the second, Jabari Blash smashed a solo homer to give the Padres a 3-2 lead. He also interrupted Julie Alexandria, Fox Sports San Diego’s dugout reporter, in doing so.
In the third, the Padres continued. Travis Jankowski was hit by a pitch, Cory Spangenberg doubled and Norris hit what would have been a sac fly, but instead was an error committed by Rangers outfielders and allowed him to have a two RBI double to bring the Padres up to a 5-2 lead. A sac fly by Alexei Ramirez drove in Norris to give the Padres a 6-2 lead.
In the fourth, Andrew Cashner hit a ground rule double to drive home a run to give the Padres a 7-2 lead. You read that right; a pitcher hit a ground rule double. A base hit from Spangenberg drove in Alexi Amarista and Cashner for a 9-2 Friars lead.
The bats stayed quiet for an inning, then Jemile Weeks asked why the party stopped and drove in two more runs on a triple, bringing the score to 11-2 Padres.
The Rangers got a few back off of relief pitcher Josh Martin in the seventh with a walk, RBI triple by James Jones and a Hanser Alberto home run to make the score 11-5 San Diego.
In the seventh, Amarista hit himself a two-run double to bring the score up to 13-5 with no outs. He has 48 hits in the last three games. Weeks hit another single to drive in another run to make the score 14-5. A wild pitch drove home Auston Bousfield to make the score 15-5.
Why not more runs? In the eighth with the bases loaded, Rocky Gale hit into a sac groundout to drive in another run to make it 16-5. Blousfield drove in another run. 17-5 would be the final score. The Padres scored in every inning except for one.
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