SAN DIEGO — Nico Hoerner pushed up from his head-first slide into third base and pounded his chest, shouting back at the raucous Cubs dugout that was celebrating his go-ahead RBI.
“It’s fun when they’re in the third base dugout and it’s right in front of you and seeing everyone’s faces,” Hoerner said after the Cubs’ 2-1 extra-innings win Tuesday. “And you put a lot of time into this game, so you’ve got to enjoy those special things.”
Hoerner’s 10th-inning leadoff triple proved to be the difference in the game. The Cubs evened the series at Petco Park and handed the Padres their first home loss of the season on the back of a strong pitching performance for 10 innings.
“That was the real story of the game,” Hoerner said. “Shota [Imanaga] and then everyone else that followed was so, so good. And even in a game where we left some outs on the field, to still only give up one run to a really strong offense like that, and have so many guys contribute — that was just a huge, huge performance by so many people that made that game possible. That was incredible.”
The Padres’ only run was avoidable.
Imanaga, after holding the Padres offense at bay for four innings, got Manny Machado to hit a fly ball into foul territory on the first pitch of his fifth-inning at-bat. But it glanced off Kyle Tucker’s glove – an error for Tucker and a second chance for Machado.
On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Machado popped up in foul territory. But third baseman Gage Workman’s attempted basket catch also failed. Another error. And Machado stepped back into the batter’s box.
The battle ended on the ninth pitch, when Machado turned on a fastball down and in, and put it into the left-field seats.
“I mean, give Machado credit,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I don’t know, as a fan, you’re frustrated that we didn’t make some plays. But give Machado some credit there.”
The Cubs evened the score the next inning with some small ball.
Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner hit back-to-back singles to lead off the sixth. Then the Padres replaced starting pitcher Randy Vásquez with left-hander Adrian Morejon as the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong came up to bat.
Crow-Armstrong dropped a bunt up the first base line, and with Swanson sprinting home, Padres first baseman Luis Arraez fumbled the transfer. Swanson dove across the plate and Crow-Armstrong reached first without a throw.
Cubs relievers Daniel Palencia, Julian Merryweather, Porter Hodge and Ryan Pressly shut down the Padres offense through the remainder of regulation, facing the minimum from the sixth inning through the ninth.
After Hoerner drove in the automatic extra-innings runner in the 10th, left-hander Caleb Thielbar took the mound in the bottom of the inning with a runner on second and barely any wiggle room.
“It’s nothing new, but it never gets easier,” Thielbar said. “Especially with a team like this, they just don’t strike out a whole lot, make a lot of contact, and you’ve really just got to hope the ball bounces your way. And tonight it did.”
Thielbar only allowed one more baserunner, pitching around Padres star Fernando Tatís Jr. and intentionally walking him in a 2-0 count, before securing the final out on a fly ball from Arraez.
