Before he joined the San Diego Padres, Samad Taylor had played 883 games in the minor leagues and just 38 in the Major Leagues. He never stopped believing he could be an impact player in the bigs. Sometimes it just takes a guy a while to find the right fit.
After being drafted and becoming a pro ballplayer in 2016, Taylor finally hit his first MLB home run on Saturday afternoon in the Padres 9-3 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards. Taylor got his first start a week ago. He hasn’t been taken out of the lineup since, putting together a six-game hitting streak and driving in eight runs while injecting some much-needed energy into a struggling San Diego offense.
Taylor’s blast was one of five homers the Padres hit on Saturday. Baltimore natives Jackson Merrill and Gavin Sheets both went deep, as did Rodolfo Duran and Manny Machado. It’s the first time this year the Friars have hit even as many as four long balls in one game. But, the fun of that was tempered by a tough day on the injury front.
Before the game the Padres put Miguel Andujar on the injured list with a hamstring ailment and called up Nick Solak from Triple-A El Paso. That was just the start of it. In the 5th inning Xander Bogaerts was hit in the head with a fastball. He stayed in to play another inning before experiencing what manager Craig Stammen called spasms in his neck and being replaced by Sung-Mun Song.
Then in the middle of the 6th inning Yuki Matsui was warming up when he bounced a pitch that kicked up and hit catcher Freddy Fermin in the side of the head. Fermin, who’s also taken several foul balls off the mask this year, was shaken up and had to be removed. Stammen said they’re going to take things very carefully with their primary catcher and he could be an injury list candidate.
Even after all that the 9th inning held drama. With two outs and nobody on base Ron Marinaccio’s first pitch to Gunnar Henderson was a fastball that sailed up and into the All-Star shortstop’s ribs. The umpires decided it was intentional retaliation for the Bogaerts beaning and ejected Marinaccio, drawing a heated Stammen out of the dugout to argue and eventually get himself tossed, as well. Stammen maintains they did not his Henderson on purpose.
We’ll see in Sunday’s series finale if the Orioles believe him.