Juan Soto got a taste of Slam Diego Sunday as the Padres pounded Oakland 10-1 to sweep the woeful Athletics.
The slugger, in hitting his first career grand slam, joined a club that his team established three years ago, popularizing the term “Slam Diego.”
He had two homers to drive in six runs against the A’s – and in consecutive innings no less, to turn a 4-0 Friar lead into a rout.
First up, in the seventh, he drove in Fernando Tatis Jr., who had singled, on a shot to right center. Then in the eighth, with two outs and Jose Azucar, Matthew Batten and Jurickson Profar on, he struck again, sending another drive out in right center.
They were his 31st and 32nd homers of the year.
With the outburst, the Padres won four straight for the first time this season and climbed back to six games under .500 against a team that already had 100 losses when the Friars came to town.
The A’s have the worst record in baseball, at 46-103, and three of the Padres’ final four series will be against teams trailing badly in the standings.
So the Friars’ hopes for the playoffs, high as the sky at the beginning of the year, may have plummeted to ground level. But they aren’t buried yet.
“Just go out there and perform,” Soto told MLB.com. “That’s the only thing we can control right now. Play every day, play hard and see what happens.”
Meanwhile, Joe Musgrove, like Yu Darvish, has been shut down for the season, MLB.com reported. He went 10-3 on the year with a 3.05 ERA before missing the final two months due to right shoulder capsule inflammation.
“If I go out there and pitch a game that’s not leading toward anything for us as a team, then it’s not worth it if I go out there and get injured,” he told MLB, but added that his rehab has been going well and that “I feel great.”
The Padres return to Petco Park Monday to begin their last home stand of the season, against two more last-place clubs, Colorado and St. Louis.
They will send Michael Wacha, Blake Snell – as he continues to make his case for a second Cy Young Award – and Seth Lugo to the mound against the Rockies.