Gausman, Tauchman lead Giants past Padres 7-1 to avoid sweep

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Kevin Gausman pitched six effective innings and scored twice, Mike Tauchman homered and drove in four runs, and the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 7-1 on Sunday to prevent a three-game sweep.

Tauchman hit a three-run shot in the third off Joe Musgrove to help the Giants remain atop the NL West.

“I knew I hit it good, but you never know. A situation like that you just try and put a good swing on the ball,” Tauchman said. “Gausman did a great job this afternoon throwing a lot of strikes and making hitters uncomfortable.”

Gausman (2-0) kept the Padres off balance, giving up six hits and striking out six. He also reached base on a single and an error to help the offense.

“You are always trying not to get swept. If you can stay away from those sweeps, especially against good teams, it can kind of kill some of their momentum,” Gausman said. “It is definitely good to get one out of here.”

Fernando Tatis Jr. homered in the first inning for San Diego.

Musgrove (2-3), who pitched the first no-hitter in Padres history for his hometown team April 9 at Texas, came into the game with a 1.24 ERA and .137 opponents' batting average (both ranked second in the NL). But he was not sharp against the Giants.

“Tauchman had a great approach against Musgrove. I thought our entire group had a great approach against Musgrove. We were just going to be very selective and see if we could run up his pitch count,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “The big hit for us (Tauchman's homer) was huge given the fact that we had gone a couple of days of not hitting with runners in scoring position.”

The right-handed Musgrove lasted five innings, allowing six runs (five earned) and four hits — including Tauchman's drive to right field on a 90 mph cutter.

“A little bit of...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Gausman-Tauchman-lead-Giants-past-Padres-7-1-to-16146198.php