Padres Week in Review: Well, At Least Fernando Tatis Jr. Homered

San Diego Padres Weekly Snapshot

Record last week: 1-5

Runs scored last week: 16

Runs allowed last week: 28 (season run differential: minus-6)

Standings

Scores

• Game 53 (Monday): Phillies 3, Padres 0
• Game 54 (Tuesday): Phillies 4, Padres 3
• Game 55 (Wednesday): Phillies 3, Padres 0
• Off Thursday
• Game 56 (Friday): Padres 7, Nationals 5
• Game 57 (Saturday): Nationals 9, Padres 4
• Game 58 (Sunday): Nationals 4, Padres 2

Week in Review and Highlights

Phillies series

Game 1: There are times where you tip your cap to an opposing pitcher and others where you feel frustrated by all the missed opportunities. The Memorial Day game fell into the latter bucket for the Padres, who gave up a pair of homers, but were shut out for the fifth time after going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The result was a 3-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. Kyle Schwarber, MLB's home run leader, hit a solo shot in the first inning, his 21st of the season and 21st in 50 games (including the postseason) at Petco Park. Brandon Marsh clubbed a two-run homer in the seventh.

But that wasn't really needed with the way the Padres were hitting with guys in scoring position. Manny Machado was the biggest culprit in this game. He struck out with the bases loaded in the first inning, grounded into an inning-ending double play with runners on the corners in the third and left a runner on third when he struck out in the eighth. The Padres, who struggle against left-handed pitching, were limited to four hits over six innings by Phillies lefty starter Jesus Luzardo, who walked two and struck out six. The only other hit came on Ty France's single with two outs in the ninth.

It was a mixed performance for Padres right-handed starter Griffin Canning, who was making his fifth appearance of the season since coming back from an Achilles injury. He went a season-high 6⅔ innings and struck out five, but two of the three hits he allowed were homers. He left after Marsh's homer, with right-hander Jeremiah Estrada getting the final out of the seventh and left-hander Yuki Matsui retiring six of the seven batters he faced.

The game also marked the first for Nick Castellanos against his old team, the Phillies. He held court before the game with media from Philadelphia peppering him with questions.

Game 2: While there have been brief exceptions, the one glaring inconsistency has been the lack of offensive production by the Padres, particularly by Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., their two superstar hitters. Until that changes, a repeat of what has transpired in the first two games of this series will continue. For the fifth time in eight games, the Padres had five or less hits, which resulted in a 4-3 loss to the Phillies. Of course, it doesn't help that right-handed starter Randy Vasquez gave up three solo homers, each with two outs, in each of the first three innings. It would have been four homers if not for center fielder Jackson Merrill robbing yet another would-be homer in the fourth. But Vasquez's otherwise solid performance (5⅔ innings, eight hits, four runs, one walk, two strikeouts) looks a bit worse because of the Friars' offensive rut.

The fact that the Padres won two of those five games with no more than five hits also keeps things looking a little brighter. But the Padres know this can't continue. "We can't sustain it," Machado said of the offensive woes, this time at the hands of Phillies right-handed starter Aaron Nola. Machado did hit his ninth homer of the year, a two-run shot in the fourth inning to slice the Friars' deficit to 4-2, but the three-time Silver Slugger has a paltry .173/.270/.346 slash line following this loss. Tatis' woes are well-documented. He is hitting the ball as hard as anyone in the game, but has yet to launch a homer as he approaches 200 plate appearances. His slash line of .255/.336/.296 is better than Machado's, but still under his career numbers (.275/.353/.498).

The Padres still managed to make his a one-run game as Ramon Laureano delivered his seventh homer of the year leading off the bottom of the eighth. A Tatis one-out single and Gavin Sheets two-out walk set up Machado, who grounded out to end the eighth. This comeback fell short.

Game 3: The last thing the Padres needed to see considering their offensive funk was a pitcher on a historic run. But that is what transpired in the series finale as Phillies right-hander Cristopher Sanchez tossed seven more shutout innings to extend his scoreless streak to 44⅔ innings in the Padres' 3-0 loss. The Friars were swept in a series for the first time this season and have lost a season-worst four in a row for the second time. Sanchez struck out nine, allowed six hits and didn't issue a walk. Sanchez's run is the seventh-longest in a single season in MLB history and he is three innings shy of having the third-best streak.

Two Padres had loud outs with Sheets and Machado hitting long fly balls, but they were still outs. They were shut out for the second time in this series and third time in seven games. Following this series, the Padres are tied for the fourth-fewest runs (3.89 per game) and the worst batting average (.218) and on-base percentage (.291). Their .652 OPS is next-to-last.

Padres right-handed starter Walker Buehler had a nice outing. He allowed two runs over 5⅓ innings, giving up three hits with no walks and two strikeouts. This was the third time in five starts Buehler did not issue a walk. Both runs scored in the sixth after Buehler left a jam for left-hander Adrian Morejon to escape. But Morejon gave up an run-scoring single to Schwarber and an RBI grounder to Trea Turner. Buehler was very efficient, throwing just 58 pitches.

The Padres went 3-6 on their longest homestand of the season. They now head out on a six-game road trip, which will include three games in Philadelphia and a rematch with Sanchez, who has five consecutive starts of not allowing a run.

Nationals series

Game 1: In a roller-coaster affair, the Padres' bullpen once again proved to be the difference. While not quite as dominant as last year, the relief corps turned in what would have been a quality start in reverse, covering the final 6⅓ innings and allowing one run. That combined with timely home runs by France and Merrill provided the winning margin in a 7-5 triumph over the Washington Nationals. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak. You could tell it was going to be one of those games when the first inning took 30 minutes, but only three runs were scored between the two teams. Giolito, still showing rust following his late signing, needed 35 pitches to get the first three outs and gave up a two-run homer to the third batter of the game. There was another homer in the second inning, this one of the solo variety, then the fourth is when it became clear it wasn't Giolito's day. After getting the first two batters out, he gave up a walk and a wild pitch before an RBI single put the Nats up 4-1. Another single and a walk ended Giolito's day with the bases loaded. Left-hander Yuki Matsui escaped further damage.

The Padres had kept things close on Xander Bogaerts' first-inning sacrifice fly and Machado's RBI single in the third that snapped an 0-for-36 team funk with runners in scoring position. The Friars' manufactured a pair of runs in the fourth inning on Freddy Fermin's run-scoring groundout and Tatis' single that tied the game 4-4. The Nationals countered with a run in the fifth for a 5-4 lead, then France smashed his sixth homer of the season to left field to tie it 5-5. In the seventh, Bogaerts reached on a one-out error and, with two outs, Merrill lined a two-run homer to right, his first long ball since May 4, for a 7-5 edge.

That was just enough for the Friars' bullpen. Matsui allowed the only run in his two innings, while Estrada and Morejon each struck out a pair in 1⅓ innings apiece. The plan went a bit askew in the eighth after Morejon got a comebacker for the first out. Right-handed setup man Jason Adam came on and gave up singles to the next two hitters to put runners on the corners thanks to a Tatis error in right. That got closer Mason Miller stirring in the bullpen, but Adam still had to face another hitter for the three-batter minimum. Fortunately, he got a fly ball that was shallow enough to keep the bases loaded and that brought Miller into the game to face Nationals superstar James Wood, the former Padres prospect. Wood drew a walk to load the bases, but Miller got out of it with a line out to deep left. Miller issued another walk leading off the ninth, then struck out two of the next three batters for his 17th save in as many chances.

Game 2: The seasonlong nightmare finally came to an end. Tatis hit a homer. It was bittersweet, however, as it came in a 9-4 loss to the Nationals, who scored eight runs over the seventh and eighth innings to hand the Padres their fifth loss in six games. For Tatis, at least he can take a deep breath now that he hit his first homer of the season. He ended a streak of 238 plate appearances by going deep in his third trip Saturday, a no-doubt, 451-foot blast in the fifth inning. He raised his arms in celebration at the plate, almost as if he had just hit a series-winning blast in the postseason.

Except, as Tatis said postgame, the baseball gods didn't allow a proper clubhouse celebration. That is because Friars right-handed starter Michael King, who was very good for six innings, unraveled in the seventh. After allowing one run on four hits through six, King opened the seventh by allowing a hit, a groundball, a walk and a hit batter that drove in a run to pull the Nats within 3-2. Right-hander Bradgley Rodriguez was tasked with minimizing the damage, but he couldn't. Part of that came when Rodriguez got a potential double-play ball to Tatis at second, but Bogaerts, the shortstop, was ruled not to be on the bag and he didn't make a relay due to a hard slide. A replay review allowed the call to stand, which led to mild-mannered Craig Stammen's first ejection as manager. A run scored on the play to tie the game 3-3. What followed was a bases-loaded walk, a two-run single and a run-scoring grounder that put the Nats up 7-3. Peralta surrendered two more runs in the eighth.

Tatis' homer was one of three by the Padres' big three hitters. Bogaerts hit a solo shot in the second inning, his eighth this year, and Machado hit his 10th of the season, also a solo shot, in the fourth inning. Tatis, for his part, hasn't been sulking. He has a six-game hitting streak, with 13 hits in 27 plate appearances, plus a pair of walks. He has a slash line of .520/.556/.680 during this stretch with three straight multihit games and five of six.

Game 3: After a fantastic April, the Padres had a mundane May. That fact was punctuated by a 4-2 loss to the Nationals, the Friars' sixth loss in seven games. That funk left the Padres with a 13-15 mark in May and 32-26 overall. As it has been most of the season, offense was at the root of this loss. The bats produced just three hits through six innings against Zack Littell, who entered the game with a 5.23 ERA. The Padres eventually got to him in the seventh, scratching out a pair of runs.

That type of production puts more scrutiny on the starting rotation, which has still been solid for the Friars. On this day, Canning gave up three runs in five innings, including a pair of homers, with the bullpen surrendering an insurance run over three frames. The Padres continue to have the game's worst batting average, now at .218 after a six-hit performance Sunday. Now the Padres head to Philadelphia for another three games against the Phillies, who just took three games from the Friars at Petco Park.

Marvelous Mason Miller

Some of the amazing stats for the Padres' closer:

• Season stats: 1-1, 0.72 ERA, 24 games, 17 saves, 17 chances, 25 IP, 10 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 11 BB, 49 K, .119 opponent average.
• Recorded his MLB-leading fourth four-out save Friday.
• Has not allowed an extra-base hit in last 44 appearances (46⅓ innings), by far a club record (26, Joe Thatcher in 2012). That is the longest streak in MLB since Brandon Morrow's 44-gamer between the 2017-18 seasons.

Random Stats

• Of the 32 games at Petco Park, 25 have been sellouts. The Padres continue to rank second in MLB in attendance.
• Jackson Merrill is one of three players with at least 10 steals without being caught. Merrill is 10-for-10.
• Fernando Tatis' 451-foot homer was the longest by a Padre this season. Five Friars have now hit their longest home runs this week: Ramon Laureano (447 feet, Tuesday), Manny Machado (436, Saturday), Jackson Merrill (436, Friday), Xander Bogaerts (424, Saturday).
• The only other time Tatis, Machado and Bogaerts homered in the same game was April 29, 2023, in Mexico City.
• Saturday's six-run seventh inning was the fourth time the Padres have allowed that many runs in a single frame. Only the Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers have allowed six or more runs more often, both doing it five times. 

Transactions

• No transactions this week.

Website Highlights

• Padres' offensive woes have brought forth a damning question: Does San Diego actually have a plan at the plate? — Randy Holt
• More dominant, more fragile: Inside Vasquez's strange leap in 2026 — Yirsandy Rodriguez 
• The mechanics behind Miller's modern relief masterclass — Taylor Leonard
• Giolito providing early stability for Padres with room for improvement — Randy Holt
• Merrill hasn't found love in the heart of the zone — N.B. Lindberg
• Padres' silent crisis finally exploded — Yirsandy Rodriguez

Looking Ahead

• Monday: Off
• Tuesday: Padres (Randy Vasquez) at Phillies (Aaron Nola), 3:40 p.m.
• Wednesday: Padres (Walker Buehler) at Phillies (Cristopher Sanchez), 3:40 p.m.
• Thursday: Padres (Lucas Giolito) at Phillies (Zach Wheeler), 10:05 a.m.
• Friday: Mets at Padres (Michael King), 6:40 p.m.
• Saturday: Mets at Padres (Griffin Canning), 7:10 p.m.
• Sunday: Mets at Padres (Randy Vasquez), 1:10 p.m.