Jurickson Profar came within a triple of the cycle and Dylan Cease fired six strong innings as the San Diego Padres won a series for the first time this year, routing the visiting Chicago Cubs 10-2 on Wednesday.
Cease (1-1) gave up just two hits and two unearned runs while walking two and fanning seven, earning his first victory as a Padre. He received ample support from an offense that collected 12 hits and scored multiple runs in four different innings to claim the rubber match of a three-game series.
Kyle Hendricks (0-2) was cuffed around for his third straight start, permitting nine hits and seven runs in five-plus innings with no walks and two strikeouts. The veteran right-hander saw his ERA rise from 11.74 to 12.08.
Profar played an integral part in San Diego’s first three rallies. He started a two-run second with a looping single to left. That was followed by an infield hit from Ha-Seong Kim, an RBI single by Luis Campusano and a fielder’s-choice grounder from Jackson Merrill that scored Kim.
Chicago equalized in the top of the fourth on one swing of Michael Busch’s bat. Busch demolished a hanging slider an estimated 405 feet to right-center field with Christopher Morel aboard after a two-out error by Kim at shortstop.
The Padres regained the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. Manny Machado singled and rode home on Profar’s double to right-center, although Profar was cut down at third. Kim slashed a triple to the wall in right-center and scored on Campusano’s infield out.
Hendricks was knocked out in the sixth when Jake Cronenworth golfed a low changeup over the right field wall for his second homer, which was followed by a Machado single and Profar’s two-run homer down the right field line. It was also Profar’s second homer of the year.
San Diego tacked on two runs in the seventh via RBI singles from Cronenworth and Jose Azocar. Fernando Tatis Jr. capped the scoring in the eighth with a single that chased home Merrill.
–Field Level Media