Padres Beat Giants 6-0 for 6th Straight Win
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Mike Clevinger didn't waste any time setting the tone for the San Diego Padres in the opening game of a doubleheader against the San Francisco Giants.
Clevinger threw a two-hitter for his second career shutout and the Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 6-0 Sunday to open a doubleheader forced because of a false positive COVID-19 test.
Greg Garcia and Wil Myers each had a two-out, two-run single off Johnny Cueto (2-1) for the Padres, who won their sixth straight game and for the 10th time in 12 games.
Clevinger said he didn't have a good session warming up, but then he came out and struck out leadoff batter Mike Yastrzemski on a 98 mph fastball.
"Surprisingly enough, that's usually how it works when your bullpen's not good," he said. "I had a not-so-excellent bullpen before this day and the second I'm on the mound, I felt like everything was there.
"I felt like I got in a good rhythm," said Clevinger, who was making his third start since coming over from Cleveland in a blockbuster trade on Aug. 31. "This was kind of the the first time I was on back-to-back five-day schedules in a while so it was good to feel that pattern. It's easier to find my patterns and my delivery by staying on routine."
Clevinger (3-2) struck out seven and walked one in seven innings for his second career complete game.
He felt he could have gone longer, but under COVID-19 protocols, doubleheader games are seven innings.
"I approach every inning like it's the ninth with two outs. That's every batter. I'm going to do that until they take the ball from me. To me I had two more innings if we had to play them."
Manager Jayce Tingler said Clevinger's performance "was really good from the first pitch all the way through. He did a good job fielding his position, which helped as well, at least twice, and had the defense engaged because of his quick tempo working and just pounding the zone. It was well-needed for a doubleheader, game one."
San Diego entered entered the day three games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. With the playoffs expanded in the pandemic-shortened season, the Padres are in firm control of second place as they close in on their first postseason berth since 2006.
The Giants said Sunday that outfielder Alex Dickerson received news of a positive test result for the novel coronavirus minutes before he was set to play against his hometown team on Friday night. Dickerson was pulled off the field and placed in isolation at Petco Park, and two games were postponed.
Major League Baseball and the players' union said Sunday morning that it was determined to be a false positive.
Dickerson said the news of the positive test "came as a complete shock and at no point did I ever think it was real." Dickerson had half-dozen more tests and, despite an emotional and physical ordeal, was back on the field Sunday, getting the first hit off Clevinger in the first inning.
Garcia hit a two-run single in the second inning and Myers had his two-run base hit in the third. The Padres added two unearned runs in the sixth.
Cueto allowed six runs, four earned, and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, struck out two and walked three.
CLOSE CALL
Padres manager Jayce Tingler said he was informed of Friday night's postponement less than a minute before the national anthem was played.
MLB hasn't said when the other postponed game will be made up. The Padres finish the season with games at San Francisco Sept. 25-27.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: Placed RHP Trevor Gott on the 10-day injured list with inflammation in his pitching elbow. The move is retroactive to Thursday.
Padres: Placed RHP Javy Guerra on the 10-day IL and recalled RHP Taylor Williams from the alternate training site.
ROSTER MOVES
The Giants added IF Daniel Robertson as the 29th player for the doubleheader and recalled RHP Rico Garcia from their Sacramento alternate site. The Padres added LHP Joey Lucchesi as their 29th man.
UP NEXT
Giants: RHP Logan Webb (2-3, 5.23 ERA) was scheduled to start the second game.
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