KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Teams talk about moving the line, passing the baton, stringing together hits. The San Diego Padres have done it pretty well this season. No Padres team had never done it like they did in Friday night’s 11-8 victory over the Kansas City Royals. An 11-hit eighth inning – the most hits in an inning in franchise history – took the Padres from down by a run to up by eight. Perhaps even more remarkable, Robert Suarez was called on to get a one-out save after the Royals scored three runs and loaded the bases against Stephen Kolek in the ninth inning. Luis Arraez singled twice during the eighth and four times in the game – the fifth four-hit game of the season (third with the Padres) for the major league batting average leader (.342). Jurickson Profar singled twice in the eighth and three times in the game. Jake Cronenworth singled and doubled. The first 10 hits in the eighth were singles. Seven of them to start the inning made it 7-2. Luis Campusano struck out looking, and then the Padres hit two more singles and scored two more runs. Fernando Tatis Jr. struck out looking, then another single and a double scored another run before Manny Machado’s 110.9 mph lineout to left field ended the inning after 14 batters had come to the plate. It was the most hits by the Padres in an inning since they had 10 in the ninth inning at Coors Field in Denver, Colo. on Aug. 23, 2004. The nine runs were their most in an inning since they scored nine against the Houston Astros in the second inning on Aug. 22, 2020. Their 17 hits in Friday’s game were their third most this season. The hits and runs came in bunches after a slow start to the night. Neither starting pitcher had allowed a run, and both were rolling when the sixth inning began. Neither would finish it, as the Royals took a 3-2 lead. The Padres were facing Michael Wacha, who was 14-4 with a 3.22 ERA in 24 starts for the Padres last season. He brought a 4-5 record and 4.31 ERA into the game but had made four quality starts in a row.
