SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Padres are where they want to be with 33 games left in the regular season, as they maintain their hold for the final NL Wild Card spot and keep pace with the Phillies for the second spot.
Despite coming off their first series defeat since July 20-23 against the Braves, they continue to improve their performance on the field every day since the trade deadline.
On Friday, their second half resurgence continued with a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins at Petco Park, led by right-hander Randy Vasquez and the top four of the batting lineup consisting of Fernando Tatis Jr. , Luis Rengifo , Manny Machado and Ty France .
Those four names mentioned finished 8-for-13 and scored all six of the Padres runs. That has been and needs to continue to be the reason why this team can qualify for the postseason at the end of September.
"It's just kind of the identity of our offense and what we're trying to be and what we're trying to accomplish," France said. "A lot of unselfish at-bats, just passing the torch. Good things came from it."
The only name that wasn't mentioned that has overall found success is Jackson Merrill , but he recently has struggled at the plate, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Over his last four games, Merrill has gone 1-for-12 (.111) with nine strikeouts, which has looked similar to early season woes.
France quickly put the Padres ahead 2-0 in the first inning after swinging on a 97mph fastball out to left field for his 18th home run of the season.
Later in the fifth, Austin Hays , the new name in the room, sparked a rally batting against left-hander Connor Prielipp, battling from a 0-2 count and finished with a single on a nine pitch at-bat.
Later Jake Cronenworth reached base with a walk. Then three straight RBI singles by Tatis Jr., Rengifo, Machado and a sac-fly by Ty France gave the Padres a 6-2 lead after the Twins tied the game in the fourth inning.
As much as the offense deserves the credit for rolling past 18 of their last 26 games, it has to be said the massive turnaround the starting pitching has made since AJ Preller traded for Robbie Ray and Casey Mize .
That pair changed the entire rotation around and relieved a lot of the pressure off the bullpen, who've heavily been relied on for most if not all of the season.
One pitcher that has had a rollercoaster of a season but has stuck with his game is Randy Vásquez.
The 27-year-old earned his ninth win, tied his season high in innings pitched and produced quality starts in three of his last four starts.
Vásquez worked his way through the Twins order their first time up. Minnesota did generate an offensive rally in the fourth starting with a lead-off single by Luke Keaschall and former Padre Josh Bell being hit by a pitch. A batter later, second baseman Kody Clemens tied the game after he belted a down the middle cutter off the right field wall for his sixth triple of the season.
The one lapse was the only one he had throughout the night. Vásquez dialed back into rhythm and shutout the next nine batters he faced. Ignoring the shaky fifth inning, Vásquez churned out six perfect innings; that's enormous progress for the right-hander.
He ended up pitching in seven innings on 87 pitches, giving two earned runs on two hits with three punch outs.
The Padres starting rotation has turned in five straight quality starts. To put it into perspective, San Diego had not recorded more than three quality starts in-a-row this season.
"I think that's the mentality of each one of us is to go out there and have a good quality start," Vásquez said. "And that's kind of how we're pushing each other, making sure that we're all doing those quality starts at the time."
Reliever Bradgley Rodriguez and Mason Miller pitched the final two innings, combining for no hits and ended the game on four consecutive strikeouts.
With Diamondbacks (68-61) winning their series opener, the Padres still have a one game lead over Arizona for the final NL Wild Card spot. Philadelphia (71-58) won their seventh game in-a-row, stretching their lead to 2.5 for the second Wild Card spot.
Saturday's rubber match of the three game series will take place at 5:40 p.m. and will feature right-handers Casey Mize (5-7, 3.18 ERA) and Dean Kremer (2-4, 5.40 ERA).
