“A testament to how locked in we were" - Tyler Wade praises Padres' impressive showing against Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Tyler Wade and the San Diego Padres ruined the highly-anticipated MLB debut of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The hard-throwing righty lasted just one inning after throwing 43 pitches.
Yamamoto gave up five runs on four hits and a walk. He did not look comfortable out there, as he did not have the best command of his pitches. He finished the game only throwing 23 strikes.
Wade was happy with his team's performance after winning Game 2 and splitting the series in South Korea. Six San Diego hitters had multiple hits during the game, showing how good this team can be. Wade recently went on Foul Territory TV to recap his feelings after the victory.
"In our hitter's meeting, we really dialed in what we wanted to do and what we wanted to focus on, and hats off to the boys one through nine. We really stuck to that gameplan, and obviously, as you can see, we knocked him out of the first inning. It's a testament to how locked in we were," stated Wade.
Offensively, there was not much to dislike for Padres fans. Stars like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado showed up, and Jake Cronenworth made up for the ball going through his glove in Game 1 with four hits.
The Padres can put to bed their lackluster 2023 season if they find success this year
Last year, the San Diego Padres were one of the most talked about teams in the league. In the offseason leading up to the 2023 season, they signed Xander Bogaerts to an 11-year deal. Alongside Bogaerts, Tatis Jr. was coming back to action after missing time due to testing positive for PEDs.
San Diego fans were excited for what they thought would be a stellar season, but it quickly became one they would like to forget. They finished the year 82-80, missing out on the postseason.
While big names like Juan Soto, Josh Hader, and Blake Snell are gone, this team is still capable of being a pest in the National League West. They have a solid rotation with the addition of Dylan Cease, and they are loaded offensively.
If San Diego can stay in the hunt in the division and make the postseason, fans will not worry about what happened in 2023. However, the NL West is a different beast, and staying in the hunt could be easier said than done.