Drury homers, drives in 3 as Padres hold off Giants 6-5

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Baseball Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mike Clevinger came to the San Diego Padres from Cleveland, so he knows a thing or two about rain delays.

He did a beautiful job weathering not one but two unusual stoppages Monday night.

Brandon Drury hit a two-run homer in the first inning and later added an RBI single, leading Clevinger and the Padres past the San Francisco Giants 6-5 in a game that included a pair of delays due to an injured umpire and an electrical issue.

“This was a very frequent occurrence, but it was rain,” Clevinger said about his nearly five seasons in Cleveland. “It was either rain on the forecast or rain happening.”

Josh Bell had an RBI single for San Diego to get things started in the first, then Austin Nola hit a two-run single in the fourth.

Play was initially halted when plate umpire Marvin Hudson got hurt in the bottom of the first, then again for 40 minutes in the top of the third when some of the ballpark light banks went out.

Unfazed, Clevinger moved to the indoor mound and kept throwing.

“He ended up throwing 80 pitches or so. It felt like he threw 150,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said.

That wasn’t far off — 83 in the game, plus all the additional work. Clevinger tossed the equivalent of another bullpen session during the break.

“From 83 in the game to 32 before the game and 30 extra in the tunnel and the eight or nine between each inning, yeah, about 150 pitches,” he said with a chuckle.

During the long delay, the scoreboard operator with a good sense of humor played Journey’s “When the Lights Go Down in the City” for a singalong. Then, the Padres’ Petco Park Twitter handle posted a photo of working lights at their ballpark, saying, “Just going to leave this here (at)OracleParkSF.”

Clevinger (5-5) allowed Joc Pederson’s two-run homer in the fourth for the only runs off him in five innings. Austin Slater’s two-run single in the eighth against Nick Martinez and a run-scoring single by J.D. Davis made things interesting.

Martinez got four outs for his seventh save as San Diego held on in a 3-hour, 44-minute game after a 15-7 loss at Kansas City on Sunday.

Pederson’s shot ended a streak of 172 plate appearances without a longball for San Francisco, and it was the Giants’ first in five games. It was the club’s second-longest streak this season behind 176 plate appearances without a homer from July 2-6.

Giants catcher Joey Bart left following the fourth after he took a foul tip from Manny Machado in the third. Bart stayed in to catch Carlos Rodón (12-7) in the fourth following a quick check at the plate of his face by athletic trainer Anthony Reyes, who then walked him up to the clubhouse for further examination.

Rodón, who was 4-0 over his previous five starts, allowed five runs and four hits. He struck out two and walked four while matching his second-shortest outing of the year at four innings as the Giants dropped their fifth straight and ninth in 11 overall.

SUMMER STRUGGLES

Giants manager Gabe Kapler still hopes his team has enough fight to make a September push. The defending NL West champions, who won a franchise-best 107 games last year, haven’t strung together enough consistent elements to win regularly.

“I think we can definitely do better at bouncing back from the tough stretch and I think that we’re sitting at the end of August,” Kapler said. “There’s still a lot of baseball left to be played and we’re gonna have lots of opportunities to be better at bouncing back.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Umpire: Hudson exited in the bottom of the first with right knee discomfort after slipping and landing awkwardly with his right knee bent above his left leg. Hudson was tracking the ball on Tommy La Stella’s foul popup when he fell. Giants athletic trainer Dave Groeschner checked on Hudson and walked him out a nearby tunnel by the visitors’ dugout. It delayed the game approximately 10 minutes. Second base umpire John Tumpane moved behind the plate to replace Hudson.

Giants: 3B Evan Longoria had the night off after injuring his right hamstring in Sunday’s series finale at Minnesota. … 1B Brandon Belt will see Dr. Timothy McAdams at Stanford on Tuesday for a second opinion on his inflamed right knee that continues to cause him pain. … Jose Alvarez (left elbow) will be examined by Dr. Keith Meister this week for a second opinion. … Anthony DeSclafani (right ankle) is scheduled to be re-evaluated by Giants doctors this week in San Francisco. … Mauricio Llovera (right flexor strain) is rehabbing in Arizona.

UP NEXT

LHP Blake Snell (5-7, 4.24 ERA) looks for his second win in five starts when he pitches the middle game of the series for San Diego.

Giants RHP Logan Webb (11-7, 3.33) tries for his career-high 12th victory after finishing 2021 with 11 wins.

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