Maybe, just maybe that was the swing that gets Fernando Tatis Jr. and the San Diego Padres offense going. The game was tied, 4-4 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning when Tatis strode to the plate to face Cincinnati Reds reliever Chase Petty. Tatis hit a line drive laser on a 2-1 pitch that was not a majestic high drive into a sea of San Diegans as Don Orsillo would say. It was a screamer that left the bat at 106 mph and cleared the top of the left field wall seemingly by just a couple
of inches, resulting in a 5-4 walk-off win for the Padres, giving them a series win over the Reds at Petco Park on Wednesday.
Tatis rounded the bases and headed for home. He threw his helmet as he approached the mob of teammates surrounding the plate and you could almost feel the sense of relief when his cleats hit finally touched down at home and kicked off the celebration. Tatis had his jersey ripped off and received a Gatorade bath which could have potentially washed away all that ails the Padres offense. Or maybe not. We will have to wait until Friday to see if that is true as San Diego enjoys an off day before opening a road series against the Baltimore Orioles.
The Padres found themselves in a position to get the walk-off win thanks to Samad Taylor, who once again came through with a big hit in a big situation. San Diego trailed 4-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning but cut the deficit to one run when Gavin Sheets hit a one out double to score Jackason Merrill who opened the inning with a double of his own. Miguel Andujar came into pinch hit, looking to tie the game, but instead he grounded out leaving pinch runner Jase Bowen on second base. Taylor came up with two outs in the inning and needed a hit to tie the game. He delivered just that with a line drive into center field that allowed Bowen to score to tie the game at 4-4.
Wandy Peralta came in to pitch the top of the ninth inning and allowed a leadoff single. He was able to erase that runner with a groundball double play on the very next batter, giving the Padres two outs in the inning. Peralta then walked Sal Stewart, who won the game for the Reds on Tuesday night with a two-run home run, and faced Spencer Steer, who had already homered in the game. Steer has torched San Diego and had hit eight home runs in 18 games when he stepped in to face Peralta with a runner on. Steer quickly found himself in an 0-2 hole and bounced into a force out to Sung-Mun Song to end the inning to give the Padres a chance to win it in walk-off fashion.
Padres News:
- Padres minor league affiliates are in actions and with the Dominican Summer League opening play, San Diego has seven teams competing in the lower levels of baseball. Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball recaps the action from the prospects on the farm.
- According to Mike Petriello of MLB.com, a new metric shows Padres closer Mason Miller’s slider is the nastiest pitch in MLB.
- Yu Darsvish may not be able to contribute to the San Diego rotation on the mound, but he has and continues to be a mentor and supporter for the staff, especially Randy Vasquez.
- Padres manager Craig Stammen always seems to support his players in postgame press conferences. On Tuesday night, he got to work on that a little early when he confronted a fan who was heckling Manny Machado.
- The Padres are always looking to add to their organization, and they did that by adding first baseman Nick Pratto to their minor league system recently.
Baseball News:
- The San Francisco Giants overcame an eight-run deficit to get an 11-10 walk-off win over the Washington Nationals on a grand slam.
- Shohei Ohtani got roughed up by the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Los Angeles Dodgers took a 9-8 loss in Pittsburgh.
- Jordan Walker helped the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Mets with another solid day at the plate.
- The big bats for the Philadelphia Phillies all homered to lead their team to a win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
- The New York Yankees picked up another win and completed a sweep of the Cleveland Guardians.
- The Miami Marlins blanked the Arizona Diamondbacks and earned an 8-0 win.
