On paper, Jackson Merrill may be a rookie however on the plate, he is bought the clutch bat of a veteran.
On Wednesday, the 21-year-old delivered the game-tying residence run within the ninth inning of the San Diego Padres’ 9-8 extra-innings win in opposition to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is the third time this season he is notched a game-tying or game-winning shot within the ninth, most within the majors.
He and the Padres will search for that to proceed after they go for the sweep of the host Pirates on Thursday.
“He embraces it,” Padres supervisor Mike Shildt stated. “He loves it, thrives on it. … He is bought that ‘it’ issue.”
Merrill’s tying blast was his second homer of the sport, wherein he completed 4-for-6. The middle fielder’s .288 batting common leads all certified rookies, and he ranks second amongst them in slugging proportion (.467) and third in on-base-plus-slugging proportion (.785). He is been particularly spectacular on the street, hitting .337 and slugging .520 with a .877 OPS in comparison with a .237/.411/.688 output at residence.
And, like his workforce, he is been on a roll for the reason that All-Star break, connecting at a .344 clip with an eye-popping .997 OPS.
He is not alone in serving to the Padres to 13 wins in 16 video games for the reason that schedule resumed. Second baseman Xander Bogaerts is hitting .409 for the reason that break.
Randy Vasquez (3-6, 4.62 ERA) will toe the rubber for San Diego. He allowed two hits in 1 1/3 innings in a no-decision in his lone earlier look in opposition to Pittsburgh in 2023.
The Pirates, in the meantime, try to beat what has turn out to be a pattern on this six-game homestand, with a number of blown leads.
On Wednesday, Pittsburgh led 6-5 within the prime of the ninth earlier than nearer David Bednar gave up Merrill’s solo shot. Reliever Colin Holderman got here in for the tenth inning and was tagged for the loss for the fourth time previously eight days.
“We’re in each recreation,” supervisor Derek Shelton stated. “We’re battling. We’re battling again. We simply have not been capable of end video games, and we bought to do this. To proceed to do what we have carried out by way of the primary 110 video games, 120 video games, no matter it’s, we’ve to only proceed to complete video games. Sadly on this homestand thus far, we’ve not. We have had leads in three of the losses within the seventh or later.”
The Pirates pulled inside one of their half of the tenth and had the profitable run on base with one out.
“We stored battling. I feel that is the factor,” Shelton stated. “We ended the sport with the profitable run on base. It is a problem while you get down three runs in an extra-inning recreation. We continued to have actually good at-bats and gave ourselves an opportunity to win, simply did not get successful to win it.”
Pittsburgh has misplaced three in a row and 5 of its previous six. It stays 4 video games out of the ultimate wild-card spot within the Nationwide League, held by the Atlanta Braves, with three different groups between them.
The Pirates will flip to Luis Ortiz (5-2, 3.21) as they give the impression of being to keep away from the sweep. He is confronted the Padres as soon as in his profession, with a 7.71 ERA, permitting 4 runs on six hits in a no-decision in 2023.
–Subject Stage Media
