W: Wade LeBlanc (2-0)
L: Doug Davis (0-3)
MVP: Ryan Braun (+.052)
LVP: Rickie Weeks (-.066)
Win Expectancy Graph and Star of the Game voting
SBNation coverage
Doug Davis and Jeff Suppan combined tonight to form Failbot 2010, with assists from Craig Counsell's bad fielding and an ill-timed Brewers offense. The Padres proved that a team really can get 9 runs off of 13 singles and a couple of errors. The entirety of the scoring occurred during the 4th and 5th innings. Davis had his escape kit going throughout the first three innings but ran out of rope in the 4th. Craig Counsell started the inning with a fielding error which Davis followed by a walk to Kyle Blanks. The Padres followed that with five consecutive singles, scoring 4. Davis was left in to start the 5th but gave up two more singles, leading to an expected Jeff Suppan appearance. Blanks literally hit a single off Suppan that bounced off his foot. 4 singles later, the Padres racked up another 5 runs. Suppan settled down after the 5th to eat up 3 perfect innings, striking out 5.
According to this tweet from the Padres' official Twitter account, the seven singles in the fifth inning tied the team's all-time record for consecutive singles.
As you can tell via the WPA listed and linked up there, this wasn't a very productive night for the Brewers. They wasted 9 hits, with Fielder, Weeks, and Counsell being unable to get any runners in scoring position around to score. This was also a bad night for basepath errors. In the first inning, the Brewers lost a nearly sure chance of scoring when Carlos Gomez took a long lead off second base and was picked off by Wade LeBlanc. (Aside: LeBlanc has picked off 5 baserunners this year; one can attempt to run off him, but I really wouldn't try. LeBlanc gives credit to the coaches for making the calls and claims he doesn't have a good move, but results may prove the lie.) Ryan Braun followed that pickoff with a double. Braun was also called out in the 4th trying to go from first to third on a Corey Hart single. Four of the Brewers' nine hits were doubles, but other than in the first inning they just couldn't string them together. It didn't help that Doug Davis failed at advancing runners in the fifth, either, striking out on a foul bunt.