Padres News: Xander Bogaerts Praises Cleveland After Failed Thursday Comeback
The San Diego Padres are now coming off of two very solid series in which they came just a few runs short of sweeping their respective opponents and we have a ton of good takeaways to go over. First off, Manny Machado was looking like his usual superstar self in these three games against the Cleveland Guardians and ever since he returned from his hairline fracture IL stint, he has been seeing the ball at an incredible rate.
Over the past three games in which the Friars were able to win two and drop one only on Thursday, Machado was able to bat .385 while sending two homers out of the park and continuing his excellent leadership on defense. He's had a tremendous amount of help from the rest of his superstar teammates and the bottom of the lineup but seeing that he is their unofficial captain, the tone starts with him.
Speaking of star teammates, if it wasn't for Fernando Tatis Jr's historic Wednesday outing, the talk would definitely be centered more around Xander Bogaerts. He was dealing with his own health struggles not too long ago due to wrist pain that comes and goes but he too was able to return to top form in this Guardians series.
X-Man was able to bat .455 over the three-game series and came very close to taking the Friars over the top in their 8-6 loss on Thursday.
Nonetheless, Bogaerts was beyond proud of his team for stringing together great performance after great performance the past two weeks and wants to see them continue in their new series against the Tampa Bay Rays. The 30-year-old SS has some high praise for the Guardians following their defeat.
“We fought back and felt the whole time like we were gonna come back and win the game,” Xander Bogaerts said. “... Their bullpen is pretty good. It got a little tougher once the game got closer to the end. Some of those guys that were pitching were pretty good.”(Via The San Diegi-Union Tribune)
We'll see everybody at 6:40 pm PT!
