Jackson Merrill off and running, Ty France playing catch up with Josh Naylor
Jackson Merrill missed a month early final 12 months with a hamstring pressure. He was additionally sidelined by a concussion and later an ankle sprain.
The impression wasn’t restricted to his skill to get his swing on time.
It appeared to weigh him down on the bases, too.
“Completely,” the 22-year-old middle fielder recalled late Tuesday night time. “It was terrible. I want to be aggressive and go. At the same time, I don’t feel like I’m up to speed. I don’t feel like it was a capability of mine to get stolen bases.”
A 12 months later, Merrill is once more on the go.
He improved to 4-for-4 in steal makes an attempt with Tuesday’s third-inning steal of second base, permitting Xander Bogaerts to drive in two runs on his single.
Merrill was 16-for-19 in steal makes an attempt as a rookie earlier than simply going 1-for-3 final 12 months. His solely steal was the day earlier than the hamstring pressure despatched him to the injured record in April for the primary time, so he is relishing the power to do it once more.
“I’ve been stealing bases since I was 5 years old,” he mentioned. “I love stealing. It’s part of the game. It helps teams win. Obviously, it shows.”
Not simply stealing both.
Merrill additionally doubled in Tuesday’s eighth inning and aggressively moved to 3rd base on Manny Machado’s fly ball to left, making all of it that a lot simpler to attain on Xander Bogaerts’ ensuing single to open up a 4-1 lead.
“We talk about that a lot,” Padres supervisor Craig Stammen mentioned. “You know, taking the extra 90 (feet) and using our running game as part of our offense. Jackson, it’s been something that he’s been working on and trying to improve this year. Today was a good example of him taking advantage of that and giving us a couple runs.”
We meet once more (and once more and once more)
Ty France was already a nook infielder within the Padres system when the membership traded for Josh Naylor in July 2016. Four years later, they had been in majors collectively and having fun with the workforce’s fantasy soccer draft after a day sport in Colorado when France was shipped to Seattle as a part of the package deal for catcher Austin Nola.
Some 10 minutes later, Naylor was moved to the Guardians within the deal for Mike Clevinger.
Tuesday may need been an excellent time for the 2 first basemen to catch up with one another, however they had been too busy taking hits away from one another. Both had singles within the sport, however France’s diving stab to his left within the fifth inning was certainly one of three Naylor battled balls that he received a glove on.
On the flip aspect, Naylor fielded a 105.2 mph ball off France’s bat and began an unassisted double play on a line drive from the Padres’ back-up first baseman.
“Me and Naylor were just going back and forth with each other all game,” France mentioned with amusing.
He added: “We didn’t talk much (when we were at first base). He can be hard to get some words out of, but I’ll catch up with him (later in the series).”
spark plug
Ramón Laureano entered Wednesday hitting .273/.351/.576 for a .927 OPS in eight begins because the Padres’ leadoff hitter. He was atop the order once more for Game 2 in opposition to the Mariners.
“You’re just trying to find someone that’s not going to fall into a slump when we put him in the leadoff spot, which is kind of what’s happened so far this season until Ramón,” Stammen mentioned. “But we really feel actually good about him both in opposition to right-handed or left-handed pitching. He’s often… fairly good at that and to date this season, he is type of dealt with either side rather well. He additionally brings a bit little bit of an angle, a bit little bit of an ankle-biter type of man that the fellows love within the dugout and within the clubhouse.
“So he’s perfect for us (at) leadoff.”
