Hunter Renfroe appears to have figured it out.

It was just more than two weeks ago he acknowledged the remaining piece was power.

“Home runs come, and they come in bunches,” Renfroe said Saturday, a day after hitting his fifth home run in 12 games. “I was never worried about power. I was (focused on) getting my approach down and making sure I was in the right spot mentally. It just kind of all came together now.”

On Sunday, Renfroe continued his power surge, blasting a two-run homer that sailed an estimated 437 feet before bouncing just beyond the visitors’ bullpen. His sixth-inning single drove in the Padres’ only other run in a 4-3 loss to the Diamondbacks.


Renfroe also took a pitch off the forearm in the eighth inning and left the game the next inning. He had X-rays, which were negative, and the hope is he can play Tuesday in Colorado.

Sunday’s homer was his sixth in 53 at-bats, a drastic rise in frequency from the one homer every 26.3 at-bats through the season’s first 210 at-bats. For the season, Renfroe’s 14 home runs in 265 at-bats have him not too far off his 2017 pace of a homer every 17.1 at-bats. (He’s at one per 18.9 ABs this season.)

So with that on track, it seems Renfroe is approaching the whole package at the plate – or at least far more so than he was his rookie season.

The 26-year-old Renfroe has vastly improved in virtually every category the Padres desired.


He hit .202 against right-handers in 2017. He’s at .251 this season.

He was a .137 hitter with two strikes in 2017. This year, he is hitting .178 with two strikes, five points above the league average.

He chased pitches outside the strike zone 33.5 percent of the time last year. That is down to 31 percent this season.

He struck out more than five times for every walk he took last season and has that ratio down to 3.1-to-one this year. After walking just 27 times in 479 plate appearances last season, he was walked 23 times in 294 plate appearances this season.


His on-base percentage is up 28 points over last year to .312.

“I’m for sure a more well-rounded hitter,” Renfroe said. “I’ve worked on it. I’ve done it through training, through ABs. I started doing it last year. I didn’t have as good of results. I came into this year and tried to focus on it more. Obviously, I’m getting better through time.”

Winging it

In his quest to find out which of his players can be part of a winning team in the future, Padres manager Andy Green sometimes makes choices that risk running counter to his team winning now.

Like bringing in Trey Wingenter to make his sixth career appearance protecting a one-run lead in the eighth inning.


Wingenter, who had not yet pitched in a game in which the score was closer than three runs, got Eduardo Escobar to pop out before Daniel Descalso turned on an 0-2 fastball that was 98 mph and perilously close to the center of the strike zone and hit it over the right field wall to tie the game 3-3.

“He’s thrown the ball well,” Green said. “… He pitched well today. Left one pitch to Descalso I’m sure he’d like back. … There’s got to be a point in time where the young guys start to get opportunities in those situations. I don’t think he did anything to dissuade me from using him in those situations again.”

While Green’s only other real choices were also rookies, both Jose Castillo and Robert Stock had more experience in such situations. Both had also thrown a lot lately and had been deemed available Sunday only if the game went extra innings.

“Trey was definitely at the front of the line to pitch today,” Green said before addressing the matter of having the right-handed Wingenter face switch-hitting Escobar and the left-handed Descalso. “Probably when you’re pitching for a pennant you’re looking at matchups a little more and using a lefty against the lefties. When you’re in these situations where you’re making sure you get guys to the end of the year healthy and get guys the opportunity to pitch in leverage situations, you present Trey that opportunity today.”


Wingenter’s debut on August 7 came in the ninth inning of a game the Padres led by six runs. His other were appearances were in games the Padres trailed by four, four, three and five runs.

But Wingenter, who has allowed two runs and three hits while striking out eight in 6 1/3 innings, is seen as a possible key piece of the back end of the bullpen in coming years.

Green had said he would hesitate to use any of his young hard throwers in high-leverage situations. Sunday, he proved it.

“That’s the right time to give him a chance to step up,” Green said. “He’ll get another chance here soon.”


Extra bases

For the first time in the six games since he debuted at third base, Wil Myers also played left field. Christian Villanueva pinch hit in the eighth inning and stayed in the game at third while Myers replaced Renfroe in left.

Myers stole his eighth base of the season. He has yet to be caught. Only the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger (10) and the Rangers’ Jurickson Profar (9) have more steals this season without being caught.

Eric Hosmer extended his hitting streak to eight games. He is 11-for-30 with two walks in that span. He has an on-base percentage of .376 over his past 25 games, having reached base in 24 of those.

Lead-off hitter Travis Jankowski doubled in the first inning for the third time in his past four games.

kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com