The San Diego Padres entered the top of the ninth inning against the Miami Marlins, trailing 4-1. The San Diego offense had been held in check by the Miami pitching staff throughout the contest, but the Padres put themselves in position to tie or potentially win the game before eventually suffering a 4-3 loss at loanDepot Park, Tuesday.
San Diego started the top of the ninth inning against Miami closer Ronny Henriquez with a leadoff walk by Gavin Sheets. He advanced to third base one batter later
when Xander Bogaerts hit a double to left field. Sheets and Bogaerts came in to score to cut the deficit to 4-3 when Jackson Merrill doubled to right.
Jackson Merrill hits a two-run double to right, cutting the Padres' deficit to 4-3 in the 9th#ForTheFaithful pic.twitter.com/PTByxt2nAH
— San Diego Strong (@PadresStrong) July 23, 2025
Merrill was at second with no outs and Henriquez and the Marlins appeared to be on the ropes. The Padres next three hitters went down in order when Jake Cronenworth flied out to shortstop, Jose Iglesias struck out swinging and pinch hitter Trenton Brooks popped out to shortstop to end the game.
It was a disappointing and uneventful end to what started as a rally that had potential to end with San Diego at least tying the game or potentially taking the lead and maybe even earning a win.
The Padres trailed throughout the game after the Marlins scored two two-out first-inning runs. Miami took advantage of two singles, a throwing error by Manny Machado, and a double to take a 2-0 lead after the first inning.
San Diego starter Stephen Kolek settled in after the first and held the Marlins off the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth inning when they tacked on an additional run to take a 3-1 lead. Kolek completed 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
Stephen Kolek strikes out five
— San Diego Strong (@PadresStrong) July 23, 2025
Stephen Kolek strikes out five batters over 5 2/3 innings in his start against the Marlins
Padres @ Marlins#ForTheFaithful | July 22, 2025 pic.twitter.com/7HnGjMB1dh
The game deciding run for Miami came in the bottom of the eighth inning when Javier Sanoja tripled to left off San Diego reliever David Morgan, which allowed Heriberto Hernandez to score to give the Marlins a 4-1 lead.
The lone run for the Padres before the top of the ninth inning came in the top of the third inning. Martin Maldonado led off the top of the third inning with a double. He later scored when Luis Arraez hit a one-out single to right field for the first run of the game for San Diego.
Luis Arraez hits an RBI single to right, cutting the Padres' deficit to 2-1 in the 3rd#ForTheFaithful pic.twitter.com/kZS7XBpEuK
— San Diego Strong (@PadresStrong) July 23, 2025
The Padres finish their series with the Marlins, Wednesday at 9:10 a.m.
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