Battered Padres weather injuries to become fastest to 10 wins

WEST SACRAMENTO -- No Jackson Merrill, no Fernando Tatis Jr., no Jake Cronenworth -- no problem for the Padres on Wednesday.

They became the first team in the Majors to reach 10 wins this season with their 2-1 victory over the A’s at Sutter Health Park -- despite missing a trio of All-Stars from the top of their lineup, as all three deal with varying injuries.

The club is hopeful Tatis and Cronenworth might return Friday, following Thursday’s off-day. But in the meantime, the Padres rode a strong outing from right-hander Randy Vásquez, plus four lockdown innings from the bullpen, and just enough from their patchwork offense.

“Team effort, hard-earned,” said manager Mike Shildt. “That was a really gritty win.”

They were playing short-handed -- with Merrill the only one of that trio who has yet landed on the injured list. After the game, Shildt noted that it’s possible both Tatis (left shoulder discomfort) and Cronenworth (right side contusion) could return imminently.

“We’re optimistic for Friday,” he said. “But again, we’ve got some time between now and then to evaluate it.”

Both were unavailable on Wednesday, meaning the Padres essentially played with a two-man bench. (And let’s just say Elias Díaz and Yuli Gurriel weren’t providing all that much versatility.)

They made it work. Oscar Gonzalez, promoted Tuesday to take Merrill’s roster spot, tied the game with a third-inning single. Xander Bogaerts, who went 3-for-5, led off the fifth inning with a double and came around to score on Gavin Sheets' sacrifice fly.

After five innings of one-run ball from Vásquez, that was enough for the Padres’ lights-out bullpen, which lowered its collective ERA to 1.65 on Wednesday, the best mark in the Majors. Each of the Padres’ three victories on their road trip were one-run wins -- nailed down by Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam and Robert Suarez, in that order.

“You’re playing to make sure we can get to those guys,” said Shildt. “That was some good situational baseball to get that lead. … Just good team baseball.”

Shildt could’ve stuck with Vásquez, who’d allowed only one hit and three walks. But with the top of the A’s lineup due up in the sixth -- including a pair of tough left-handed hitters in Lawrence Butler and Tyler Soderstrom -- the matchup was a better fit for Morejon.

“You’re not going to win too many games when you only get two hits,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “You sometimes have to give a staff credit. That bullpen over there is one of the better bullpens in the league, and they showed it today.”

The A’s took a quick lead in the second, capitalizing on some early walks from Vásquez. But the Padres -- as they’ve done often this season -- answered right back. Gonzalez was a standout offensive performer, after a wild 24 hours.

He was called up from Triple-A to replace Merrill, arriving at the ballpark in the early stages of Tuesday night’s 10-4 loss. In the middle of the second inning, Gonzalez jogged from the center-field clubhouse to the visiting dugout, where he greeted his teammates. An inning later, he was in the game, replacing an injured Cronenworth.

“From El Paso yesterday, straight to the field,” Bogaerts quipped.

“It was crazy,” Gonzalez said. “Tough day for me, but I had to do whatever the team needs.”

There’s every chance Gonzalez will stick -- especially if he’s mashing 110 mph line drives like his fifth-inning single on Wednesday. He was one of the final cuts from the Padres’ Opening Day roster before he was added to the 40-man last week.

“He had a really good spring,” Shildt said. “That was a hard conversation, sitting a guy down that was hitting .400 on the nose in Spring Training. He went down to Triple-A and earned his way back up.”

A year ago, the Padres relied on their depth, as they rolled to 93 victories and the best record in baseball in the second half. There were questions about that depth leading into this season.

It got an early test on Wednesday -- and the Padres passed with flying colors. Gonzalez had two hits. Brandon Lockridge and Jose Iglesias each had a hit and were excellent defensively. Realistically, those three were filling in for the three injured All-Stars.

The Padres hope two of those All-Stars are back in the lineup on Friday. But they’re also confident they can handle the next bit of adversity, whenever they’re faced with it.

“We’ve got to find a way,” Bogaerts said. “Whatever it takes.”

They did precisely that on Wednesday.