It’s the sure-fire sign of a depleted pitching staff — when a team’s next reliever is a player who spends a majority of his time taking batting practice instead of throwing it.
The San Diego Padres, though, didn’t settle for one position player on Tuesday afternoon at Safeco Field. They use two (catcher Christian Bethancourt and backup shortstop Alexi Amarista) in order to get through their contest with the Seattle Mariners — a game in which the Pads eventually fell, 16-4.
After starter James Shields was rocked for eight hits and 10 earned runs over 2.2 innings (and hurting his trade value in the process), reliever Luis Perdomo got the call — and got his bell rung, too: six runs in two frames. Following a 2.1-inning stint from Leonel Campos, San Diego manager handed the ball to Bethancourt (who began the game at backstop and then moved to second base) to start the bottom of the eighth.
