Austin Hedges does many things on many pitches to help prevent opposing batters from getting on base and scoring runs.

The quest to get on base and help the Padres score runs is his ongoing challenge.

“I want to be the whole package,” Hedges said Thursday night after going 2-for-4 with a home run in the Padres’ 6-3 victory over the Diamondbacks.

The Padres do, too. They unequivocally need him to be better than he has been this season.


However, after Hedges’ first home run since the season’s second week, manager Andy Green earnestly made the argument that whatever his catcher does with a bat in his hands is a bonus.

“He’s done such a good job behind the plate,” Green said. “I’ve told him repetitively. ‘I’m not worried about what you do offensively. Just go catch winning baseball games and do it over and over and over.’ He did that tonight. He did a great job with (starting pitcher Eric) Lauer. That team is very active giving information at second base. He did a great job causing that not to happen. He was good in a lot of ways that people don’t even understand.”

But the offense.

It’s important that Hedges, who hit 18 home runs in his first full season last year, is inching up his production. Since returning from an eight-week stay on the disabled list due to an elbow issue, Hedges has lifted his batting average from .173 to .194 by going 6-for-24.


Several in the Padres organization have spoken in the past about Hedges being so valuable defensively they essentially need him to just not be a liability on offense.

Hitting in the mid-.200 range with a dozen or so homers is acceptable.

“I want to be able to contribute to the team on every single play,” Hedges said. “That’s such a huge job of the catcher. When you’re not hitting, you can still contribute on defense every play. But if I’m driving in runs or at least putting together good at-bats — if I’m hitting in the eight hole, sometimes with two outs just getting the pitcher up, turning the lineup over for the next inning, those are little things that I want to do. Whatever role I can be offensively, I feel like I can make the team better.”

Green expressed confidence.


“If he just lets his hitting come and goes and dominates the defensive side, the hitting will come,” Green said. “But I genuinely believe what he does behind the plate is more important than what he does when he’s standing in the batter’s box.”

Strahm on fire

The Padres are excited to see what Matt Strahm can do as a starter in 2019.

For now, they continue to be thrilled by what they see out of him as a reliever.

The 26-year-old left-hander entered Thursday’s game with none out and two runners on in the sixth inning. Those were his first inherited runners of the season, and he stranded them. Two of his outs came with 96 mph fastballs and one on a curve. He also used his change-up and a slider to get ahead in counts.


“That fastball is electric,” Hedges said.

The catcher acknowledged the ample and effective pitch mix before reiterating, “But that fastball is special.”

Strahm didn’t notice anything different Thursday, but Green did.

“He came out with real life in the fastball,” the manager said. “He’s had that every time he’s been the starter in that ‘bullpenning’ role. Out of the bullpen, it hasn’t been quite as alive. That was the first time in the last few times there was a real life to the fastball.”


Strahm ended up going 2 2/3 innings, allowing a two-run homer to Ketel Marte in the eighth inning.

Strahm has shown increasing fire on the mound, mostly manifesting in how he throws.

The home run he allowed Thursday brought out a different intensity. Strahm yelled a number of bad words (or maybe just one bad word a number of times) after Marte smacked a 93 mph fastball that was up and in.

Strahm clearly doesn’t like allowing homers.


“Especially when I miss the exact opposite side of the plate,” Strahm said later. “As soon as it left my hand, I wanted it to come right back to me, but Marte put a hell of a swing on it.”

Strahm began the season on a rehab assignment while working back from last summer’s patellar tendon surgery. He allowed two runs on two hits and three walks in his Padres debut on May 7. In 15 games (26 innings) since, he has a 2.05 ERA and 0.95 WHIP.

Lauer’s longevity

Lauer continues to show a fortitude that belies his 23 years and 14 big-league starts.

He has adjusted his mix of pitches and even created a new pitch, going with a more pronounced slider on Thursday. He also picked off his major league-leading eighth runner. And he again showed resilience working his way out of trouble in multiple innings.


He just wants to do less of all that for longer.

The left-hander went 5 2/3 innings on Thursday and has gone six innings four times. After throwing 46 pitches in Thursday’s first two innings, he did well to make it the next 3 2/3 with just 49 more offerings.

“When I get to seven innings, when I finally have everything, when I don’t have guys fouling off pitches left and right, when I get everybody out quickly …” he said. “I would definitely like to get through the first without throwing 20 pitches. And I’d definitely like to get through all of them, I want to go nine. But once I get through seven, I’ll think that is a good game. After that, I’ll want eight. Then I’ll want nine.”

Myers not having it

Wil Myers has eight of the Padres’ past 26 RBIs. In that eight-game stretch, he is 10-for-31 with three doubles, a triple and a home run.


Myers is always available to talk about baseball or anything else — except, lately, an assessment of his own game.

“I refuse to acknowledge I feel good at the plate,” he said Thursday after going 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs. “I’m just going out there every day to have a good plan, good approach and stick to that.”

kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com