Cashner does it all to shut out Phillies 1-0

Andrew Cashner blanked the Phils and helped drive in the only run in the Padres victory.

The Padres' first game of their last homestand of the season paralleled their first game of their first homestand of the season in that Andrew Cashner took the mound in both games. Unlike that earlier game this was not a hyped matchup with the team to beat in the division, instead it was with a fellow below .500 team the Philadelphia Phillies. The game did start with another thing in sync with opening day: Cashner retired the side in order to start the game. Fortunately the Padres found a good way to stay out of step when they scored first in this one. Rene Rivera's second inning leadoff double resulted in a run when after Alexi Amarista moved him to third with a groundball to the right side, pitcher Andrew Cashner struck a ball that 3B Cody Asche couldn't handle.

Cashner was on a roll for this one. He retired the first 9 batters of the game in order before giving up a walk. Still, no hits allowed for 4 1/3 innings pitched. A bunt against the shift by Domonic Brown did in the chance for anything historic. The Phils still managed to go 3-up-3-down that inning on a kind of wonky play. The hit and run was on and the next batter batter popped up to second baseman Jedd Gyorko. Brown had to hustle back to first. Gyorko tried to flip the ball to first base as he caught it, but wasn't able to get anything on the toss. After the ball rolled on the ground and was picked up by Cashner, after a pause, he threw to second base where Brown was ruled out by virtue of not touching the base on his way back. Whacky double play.

The game hummed right along the rest of the way at pretty much breakneck pace. Both teams went baserunnerless from then on until the top of the 8th, but even that guy was retired when he tried to tag up on a fly ball to the outfield and was subsequently thrown out at second base. The bottom of the 8th began after only an hour and forty-five minutes had passed. Will Venable would become the Padres' first baserunner since the second inning when he drew his second walk of the game. He too would be a part of an unorthodox double play when on a hit and run Cashner popped out to second and Venable was doubled off of first base. A Yangervis Solarte single, a couple of walks and a couple of pitching changes later and the game slowed to a glacial pace with 2 outs already recorded, however the Padres weren't able to turn the Phillies' sudden pitching struggles into a run.

With only 77 pitches record through his first 8 innings, Cashner would get a chance for his second shut out of the season (and third in his career). We would whiff the first, but would need some help on the second. Alexi Amarista had to backhand a ball at short and hurry a strong throw to first. Yasmani Grandal dug it out of the dirt to get out number two in the final frame. A liner to left field and a running one-handed grab by Seth Smith got the last out. The 3rd shutout of Cashner's career (all with Padres) matched Jake Peavy for most shutouts by a Padres pitcher in the Petco Park era.