One is enough as Padres edge Giants in 10-inning pitching duel

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Padres are finding runs hard to come by these days. They’ll take 'em any way they can get 'em -- and on Monday night in San Francisco, one run was all they needed.

San Diego weathered a dominant outing from Giants ace Logan Webb with a brilliant effort from its own pitching staff in a tense 1-0 victory at Oracle Park -- in which the game’s only run came around to score on a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning.

“It was a great baseball game,” said Jose Iglesias, who drove in that run, then prevented the tying run with an outstanding play at third base. “Those are the types of games that create teams. … It was a great win for us as a team. We’ll take it, especially against a guy like Webb.”

Padres right-hander Stephen Kolek traded zeros with Webb for 5 2/3 innings, before the bullpen did the rest of the work -- including two innings from closer Robert Suarez. In total, five pitchers combined for the Padres’ first extra-innings shutout since May 26, 2015 (a victory over the Angels in which Odrisamer Despaigne pitched six innings of scoreless ball, and Matt Kemp cleared the bases with a three-run double in the 10th).

It marked Suarez’s longest outing since the 2022 postseason -- perhaps an indication of what this game meant to the Padres. Sure, it’s just one game in early June. But it’s the first of four against the rival just behind them in the standings -- and the start of a stretch in which they’ll play their next 17 games against fellow National League contenders.

“We’ve played some really good teams,” said Tyler Wade. “This division’s super competitive. Logan Webb’s a [freaking] great pitcher, man. He’s got a lot of stuff, and his stuff was working tonight. So being able to grind out one run -- we always talk about scoring one more run than the other team -- that was just kind of a testament to that.”

It’s not typically the preference of manager Mike Shildt to call for a sacrifice bunt to begin extra innings. But on this occasion, the strategy practically fell into his lap. Wade, perhaps the team’s best bunter, was due up leading off the 10th. Iglesias, one of the team’s top contact hitters, would follow him.

Even still, playing for one run isn’t generally ideal, given that the Giants also start their half of the inning with a runner on second base. But Suarez, a master at stranding runners, had navigated the ninth on just 11 pitches.

“Doesn’t matter who the opponent is,” Suarez said through interpreter Pedro Gutierrez. “It’s an important game. We need to win. So I just go all-out.”

Said Shildt: “It was all pretty ideal, in a sense. We know we’re going to get Robert back out. Wadey’s a really good bunter. Jose’s a really good contact guy.”

And all three executed their roles. On the first pitch of the 10th, Wade laid down a picture-perfect sacrifice up the third-base line.

“I was thinking about that the whole inning before,” Wade began, before Jackson Merrill interrupted his interview.

“Best bunt I’ve ever seen,” Merrill said.

No, it wasn’t inch-perfect, hugging the chalk. But that wasn’t Wade’s job, given the situation. As sacrifice bunts go, this was textbook. Then came Iglesias.

“Getting that bunt down, that was huge,” Iglesias said. “I was just looking for something up. We were facing a tough pitcher with a tough sinker on the mound. He left something up, and I was able to put a good swing on it.”

Indeed, Giants righty Ryan Walker hung a slider, and Iglesias swatted it to left field, deep enough to score Jake Cronenworth. The Padres had a lead, and Suarez made sure it held up -- but not before Iglesias’ diving snare on Matt Chapman’s rocket, keeping the tying run at third.

“What a ballgame by Jose,” Shildt said. “He’s just a valuable guy for us.”

It all ensured that Kolek’s effort wouldn’t go to waste. Kolek later spoke of his admiration for Webb, noting that, as a fellow sinkerballer, he’s been watching Webb closely for years.

“It was fun -- that’s the first time I’ve gotten to face a true superstar of a pitcher,” Kolek said. “I was definitely excited to pitch against him. I thought that was pretty cool. … In the end, the team played great defense and pulled together. It was a great win, all around.”