Following losses on Thursday and Friday, and a narrow 2-1 win on Saturday, the San Diego Padres would pummel the Washington Nationals in a 13-4 victory on Sunday, splitting the four-game series.
The Padres were led by a strong performance by gunslinging starter Andrew Cashner, who went 6.2 innings while surrendering three runs and striking out six batters.
The former first-round draft pick out of TCU, Cashner has excelled since joining the starting rotation in late-April, establishing a 3-2 record with a solid 3.02 ERA in 44.2 innings of work.
Cashner has been one of the hardest throwing starting pitchers in either league this year, throwing a fastball with an average velocity of 94.8 MPH (2nd only to Stephen Strasburg‘s 95.2 MPH average).
San Diego’s offense punished Washington’s Dan Haren, launching two home runs off of the Nationals starter in the fifth-inning, a solo shot by Will Venable followed by a two-out two-run shot by Kyle Blanks. Yonder Alonso would add a solo home run of his own off of Washington reliever Drew Storen in the eighth-inning.
In total, five players from the starting lineup drove in at least two runs each, a strong offensive effort that would culminate in the scoring of 13 runs on 15 hits.
After registering a 10-16 record in the month of April, San Diego has rebounded to a 10-7 record in May.
With the victory on Sunday, the Padres boast a 20-23 record and sit fourth in the NL West standings, 4.5 games back of the division leading Arizona Diamondbacks.
