Ty France’s solo homer snapped a tie in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday night as the San Diego Padres outlasted the visiting Toronto Blue Jays 8-7.
San Diego’s bullpen held the line from there. Bradgley Rodriguez (2-2) fired a 1-2-3 seventh, Adrian Morejon pitched the eighth and closer Mason Miller took care of the ninth for his 24th save in as many chances.
Neither starter made it past the second inning, both undone by wildness. Toronto’s Trey Yesavage lasted only 1 2/3 innings, giving up one hit and four runs thanks to his seven walks. The Padres’ Walker Buehler pitched only two innings, yielding three hits and four runs with four walks and a strikeout.
Yesavage gifted San Diego two runs in the bottom of the first with four walks, the last to Gavin Sheets with the bases loaded. France accounted for the other run via a sacrifice fly.
The Blue Jays erased that deficit quickly in the second with four runs, fueled by Buehler’s four walks. Alejandro Kirk doubled down the right field line for an RBI, followed by Andres Gimenez’s run-scoring groundout and Jonatan Clase’s two-run homer to right, his second of the year.
Three more walks by Yesavage in the second teed up Manny Machado for a two-run single that made it 4-4. The Padres regained the lead in the third on a two-out, two-run single by Sung-Mun Song.
Jake Cronenworth increased the lead to 7-4 in the fourth by grounding a two-out RBI single up the middle that scored Sheets. But Vladimir Guerrero Jr. erased that lead in the sixth when he belted a three-run homer to left. The 385-foot shot was his sixth of the year.
The teams combined for 17 walks, 11 by Toronto’s five pitchers. The teams drew 11 walks in the first two innings, the most in a major league game this year.
