Robinson Cano has had a disappointing season thus far to say the least, but Wednesday afternoon he pushed those numbers to the side and propelled the Seattle Mariners to a victory over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. With the win, the Mariners swept the Padres in this short two-game series.
It was a good pitching matchup as well with Mariners youngster Taijuan Walker taking the hill against Padres right hander "Big Game" James Shields. Both pitched well enough to get a win, but Walker got the run support he needed along with blanking the Padres through his six innings of work.
Walker has been on quite a run lately and he definitely didn't slow down today. He lasted six shutout innings, before being pinch hit for in the seventh, and gave up just one hit while striking out seven and walking none. The trainer, along with manager Lloyd McClendon came out to look at Walker in the sixth inning, but he said everything was fine. He had only thrown 77 pitches, but McClendon wants to be extra careful with his young right-hander.
Seattle scored one run in each inning from the sixth to the eighth and that was plenty of run support for the pitching staff to hold off San Diego. Robby Cano started the Mariners offense in the sixth inning with an opposite field, solo home run to left which was followed by Cano's second RBI on the day where he singled to center to score Brad Miller and make it 2-0. Then in the eighth, the Mariners tacked on one more behind an Austin Jackson sacrifice fly that plated, Nelson Cruz.
Then in the ninth, Seattle broke the game open and added some insurance as they scored two runs behind a Logan Morrison single and then an RBI double by Cano, his 3rd RBI and 4th hit, made it 5-0. But, they weren't done yet as Nelson Cruz hit a towering two-run home run for a birthday BOOM to make it 7-0.
Padres starter James Shields came into Wednesday's ballgame looking to bounce back from a tough outing last time out against the Giants where he lasted just four innings and gave up seven runs. He was able to throw a better outing versus the Mariners as he lasted 6.2 innings giving up two runs on four hits while striking out seven. He did walk four batters which quickly spiked his pitch count which ended at 117.
San Diego didn't get much offensive production as Walker completely shut them down and the bullpen followed suit. The Padres tallied just three hits total and the boo birds were out at Petco Park as they only had four hits total against Mariners pitching in the two-game series. They have lost their last three games.
The Mariners will head up the California coast to the Bay Area to face the A's for four games while the Padres head to St. Louis to face the league leading Cardinals for four games. Both of those series start Thursday.
WP: Taijuan Walker (7-6, 4.34 ERA)
LP: James Shields (7-3, 4.14 ERA)