– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — San Diego Padres backup catcher Rodolfo Dúran was pressed into duty last night because of an injury, and he proceeded to put a hurt on his opponent with a home run. The damage from his bat continued while a starter on Sunday, carrying the Padres to another series victory.
Dúran had a double and a home run, the latter coming in the seventh inning that gave the Padres insurance in a 5-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Sunday afternoon. Walker Buehler went five innings on the mound and allowed just one run while four Padres relievers combined to close the game out, with star closer Mason Miller striking out three in his first appearance in the series.
In the second inning, Dúran caught a slice of luck when his ground ball up the middle — where Orioles second baseman Jeremiah Jackson was shading him — with two outs struck the second base bag and caromed into right field, scoring the first run of the game.
There was no fluke with Dúran’s second hot of the game, a 432-foot blast into the Padres bullpen in left-center field in the seventh inning that gave San Diego a 4-1 advantage.
Jackson was responsible for the only run Buehler allowed, hitting a second-inning homer that cut the Orioles deficit to 2-1.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by staff photographer Michael R. Smith. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 29 pictures in total.
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