This Date In Padres Baseball - May 7

THIS DATE IN PADRE BASEBALL

1998 SEASON

PADRES DROP OPENER IN BATTLE FOR NL BEST RECORD

BRAVES 6 PADRES 3

Padres broke out the bats early, with Steve Finley doubling off the center field wall to lead off the game. Tony Gwynn would walk and Greg Vaughn would hit his 3rd triple of the year driving in both Finley and Gwynn to take an early 2-0 lead off John Smoltz (3-0)

Joey Hamilton (3-2) ran into trouble in the 4th. A home run by Andres Galarraga, a triple by Ryan Klesko, and sacrifice fly by Javy Lopez tied the score at 2. Hamilton couldn't stop the bleeding though, hitting Michael Tucker and allowing a single to Andruw Jones, bringing up John Smoltz. The well known competitive spirit of the Braves pitching staff is well known, and Smoltz seem fired up by Greg Maddux as he stepped to the plate and delivered a 2 run double to make the score 4-2, a lead he wouldn't surrender.

The Padres would get one back in the 5th off Smoltz, with Gwynn doubling home Ed Giavanola to make it 4-3 Braves. But Smoltz would again help himself with a single in the 6th, followed by a Walt Weiss double to drive Hamilton from the game and lead to the final score of 6-3. 

News and Notes -  In an early season clash of division leaders, the Braves pitching and big bats were too much for the Friars.

Standings:

SDP	22	11	.667	--
SFG	18	15	.545	4.0
LAD	17	16	.515	5.0
COL	15	19	.441	7.5
ARI	8	26	.235	14.5

HOT FRIAR:  Tony Gwynn loves facing Cy Young winners, going 2 for 3 against Smoltz, raising average to .390
COLD FRIAR: Chris Gomez with another 0 for 3, dropping to .228 on the season.

Notable games of May 7

PADRES FRANCHISE RECORD ON THIS DATE = 18-27 .400

Game 25 1985 - Padres 12 @Cardinals 2 - set the season high for runs scored, that would be tied the very next day

Game 30 1987 - Cardinals 17 Padres 10 - set the season high for most runs allowed in the 1987 season

Game 33 2003 - @Expos 12 Padres 9 (10 innings) - Mark Loretta sets a franchise record for second basemen with 13 assists in a 10-inning, 12–9 Padres loss at Montreal.

GAME OF THE DATE

Game 29 2009 - Padres 4 Diamondbacks 3 (10 innings)

Padres win in extra innings for the franchise's 300th extra inning win. This one courtesy of a David Eckstein single driving home Kevin Kouzmanoff.

Padres Making MLB Debuts on May 7

No Padre has ever made their MLB debut on this date

Transactions of May 7

2017
Released Jamie Romak.

• 1B/OF Romak played 25 games at AAA El Paso after signing as a free agent in November 2016,