San Diego Padres manager Craig Stammen went viral after accidentally pulling starter Walker Buehler through just 2.1 innings pitched Wednesday. Buehler started the game with a strong two inning, but showed signs of struggle in the third. Catcher Keibert Ruiz, a former teammate of Buehler's with the Los Angeles Dodgers, led off the inning with a homer, and Buehler allowed each of the following four runners to reach base without recording an out.
Stammen, who took over as the Padres' manager in the offseason after former manager Mike Shildt's sudden retirement, came out to visit Buehler on the mound with one out and the bases loaded in the third inning, but didn't realize pitching coach Ruben Niebla had visited Buehler just two batters earlier. Home plate umpire Doug Eddings relayed the information to Stammen, and Kyle Hart came in to relieve the veteran on the mound at the expense of a clearly frustrated Buehler. Buehler had only thrown 60 pitches by the time Stammen accidentally removed him, and ended the outing with two earned runs and three hits with four strikeouts.
The Padres are in a heated playoff race with the Arizona Diamondbacks, battling for the third spot in the Wild Card, so a loss in Wednesday's game could have been costly. Luckily for them, though, Hart managed to navigate out of the jam and throw 2.1 scoreless innings on the afternoon. San Diego went on to win the game, 9-2, on the back of a fantastic performance from center fielder Jackson Merrill.
San Diego currently sits 0.5 games ahead of the Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card spot, but they hold an easier schedule than their division rivals. While they both have to face a top team before the end of the season, the New York Yankees for the Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers for the Padres, the Padres have more favorable matchups outside of that set. That being said, the teams have stayed within 0.5 games of each other all the way through September so far, so their years may come down to the final series of the regular season, when they face each other in San Diego from Sept. 25-27.
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