SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Jake Cronenworth hit a splash shot, Fernando Tatis Jr. also connected off Johnny Cueto and the San Diego Padres roughed up the San Francisco Giants 11-1 Sunday.
Padres starter Chris Paddack pitched three scoreless innings and left with a 5-0 lead. Ryan Weathers (2-1) followed with three more shutout innings.
"I think going into the game, if we could get five or six innings out of both of those guys -- both of them were really efficient and they did a great job navigating the lineup and attacking,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said. “For them to give us a chance to win today, it was huge.”
Cueto (2-1) hadn’t pitched since April 14, when he strained his left lat. His problems began in the second inning with Wil Myers’ leadoff single — a dribbler up the third-base line that nudged the bag.
Cronenworth followed with his third homer. He became the fourth Padres player to hit a drive in San Francisco Bay, joining Ryan Klesko (2003), Brian Giles (2008) and Yasmani Grandal (2014).
Tatis hit his ninth homer later in the inning, a two-run shot.
“It was nice to get quite a few barrels to the baseball,” Tingler said. “Hopefully we do it again tomorrow and build on that. That’s how you start to heat up. That’s how you get on a roll.”
Cueto yielded five runs and eight hits in three innings. The Padres proceed to make the score even more lopsided by adding four runs in the eighth, then added two more in the ninth after Cronenworth led off with a double against first baseman-outfielder Darin Ruf.
Ruf pitched for the first time in the majors.
“You never want to have to do that, but at the same time ... you get some life experience for Darin Ruf, a story for him to tell," Giants manager Gabe Kapler said.
“I do think it can kind of lighten the mood in the dugout a little bit after a tough stretch of innings, to say the least. That’s not the reason you do it. You do it to save innings for your bullpen. But there is some peripheral benefit,” he said.
Five San Diego pitchers combined to scatter eight hits.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: To accommodate Paddack’s return to the active roster, the Giants transferred OF Jorge Ona to the 60-day injured list. San Diego also optioned RHP Nabil Crismatt to Triple-A El Paso.
Giants: Cueto was officially reinstated from the injured list. OF Jason Vosler was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento.
UP NEXT
Padres: They’ll open a three-game series Monday at Colorado. RHP Dinelson Lamet will make his third major league start of the season.
Giants: LHP Alex Wood will start the opener of a two-game series against Texas. Right-hander Kyle Gibson will start for the Rangers.
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