Xander Bogaerts, David Peralta and Elias Díaz hit home runs as Padres beat White Sox – San Diego Union-Tribune
The Padres have moved closer to the postseason spot that seemed secure for a while.
The White Sox have come ever closer to what has long seemed like an inevitable disgrace.
Two teams working toward different goals in the final week of the season played each other Saturday night at Petco Park, with the Padres winning 6-2.
The win moved the Padres two games ahead of the Diamondbacks in the race for the National League’s top wild-card spot and three games behind the Dodgers in the race for the NL West title. It was the White Sox’ 119th loss, putting them just one game shy of the Mets’ 1962 major league record.
No matter what happens Sunday, the White Sox will be spared the double humiliation of setting the dubious record while watching the Padres celebrate.
The Padres can clinch a playoff spot on Sunday if they win and the Braves and Mets lose their respective games. But the Padres and White Sox play at 1:10 p.m., and the Mets’ game against the Phillies isn’t scheduled to start until 4 p.m. PT. So even if the first two results go in the Padres’ favor, they wouldn’t know if they’re definitely in the playoffs until Sunday night.
Regardless, they are about to make their third postseason trip in five years.
“Whatever we have planned for the future is pretty much right in front of us,” Xander Bogaerts said. “It’s right in front of us. We have to come in here and take care of it. We can’t control what the other teams do. But I mean, you see the finish line.”
The Padres just keep winning – Saturday was their seventh win in the last eight games – so it looks like it’s just a matter of time.
Other than two-run home runs by Bogaerts and Elías Diaz, a solo home run by David Peralta and an RBI single by Jackson Merrill, not much was needed on Saturday.
Pérez continued to contribute enough for the Padres, who improved to 8-1 in his nine starts since being acquired from the Pirates in a July 30 trade.
Pérez was replaced on Saturday after allowing a run when he hit a batter, allowing a batter on a walk and subsequently allowing an RBI single with one out in the sixth inning.
Bryan Hoeing replaced him and retired the next two batters. Jeremiah Estrada worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Jason Adam loaded the bases with one out after a walk, a single and a hit batter, then worked a walk before being replaced by Tanner Scott, who hit his second pitch for an inning-ending double play and then worked a scoreless ninth inning for the five-out save.
On Saturday, Pérez pitched at least five innings for the sixth time and allowed no more than one run, lowering his ERA with the Padres to 2.42.
To explain how inferior the White Sox are, one doesn’t have to do much more than that they are on the verge of setting a new standard of cruelty.
But there was also the fact that Andrew Vaughn, at 102, was the only player in their lineup over the last two days with an OPS-plus above 93. An OPS-plus of 100 indicates league-average performance, and the Padres had seven players with 101 or more in Saturday’s lineup.
So Pérez essentially did what most pitchers did against the White Sox.
And the Padres’ offense accomplished in its five innings what most teams have done against White Sox starter Chris Flexen (2-15, 5.15), dropping Chicago to 4-28 in its starts this season.
Bogaerts’ second-inning hit followed a leadoff single by Merrill. Peralta’s one-out home run in the fourth made it 3-0. And after Profar opened the fifth with a double, Merrill brought him home with a one-out single. Díaz’s home run came off Enyel De Los Santos, who began the season with the Padres before being traded to the Yankees in July and claimed off waivers by the White Sox in August.
Their victories over the last two nights against a miserable team have featured some exciting moments, but as they have done most of the season, the Padres have done everything they can to win.
“You know your opponent,” Fernando Tatis Jr., who hit two doubles on Saturday, said after the game. “But we definitely know what we’re capable of and what we can do and what we’ve done. We’ve done it before. We’re just going to get it done no matter what.”
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