Padres Daily: Manny handled; homerless at home; more Tatis thievery

Good morning,

Where do you want to start?

The lack of home runs by the Padres? Or the lack of contribution by Manny Machado?

My game story (here) focused on the positive from last night’s 4-2 loss to the Reds.

Michael King returned, and he was fantastic. For one night, that was enough of a win.

“A.J. (Preller) did a phenomenal job to add pieces at the trade deadline,” Mike Shildt said after last night’s game. “And this is going to be a piece that we’re going to add that was already in the house, and he’s throwing the ball very, very well. And tonight means quite a bit to us.”

A healthy King has the potential to be as big a boost to the Padres’ chances of advancing far in the postseason as any other factor.

As we have talked about plenty in this space, the “super bullpen” can only do so much, especially down a man. And especially with the other unknowns in the starting rotation, a reliable King changes the dynamic of how the Padres can navigate a postseason series.

But as they look forward, the Padres must also confront the cruel reality that a team must score to win.

We talked in yesterday’s newsletter (here) about how it is probably too late to expect the Padres to become bombers. We can discuss that more here later.

First, let’s fret some about the strange late-season slump Machado is enduring.

Machado went 0-for-4 last night and is batting .199 with a .566 OPS in 36 games since Aug. 1. He is batting .148 with a .450 OPS over the past 15 games, which include three at Coors Field, where he has historically excelled but this past weekend went 2-for-13 with one homer. He has two home runs in the past six games and three home runs in his past 37 games (dating to July 30).

“It sucks that it’s happening at this moment,” Machado said last night. “But it’s part of the game. As long as we’re winning games and we’re in a good spot, that’s all that matters. Doesn’t matter what I’m doing. My stats don’t matter. It’s about winning ballgames at the end of the day. So if I can contribute — not doing much right now to do it — but  as long as we win games, it’s all that matters.”

That doesn’t mean Machado is not frustrated. Here is video that appears to show he was frustrated last night:

Great video from the homie @firefriartalk

Chado was PISSED

He knows he’s slumping

He’ll bounce out of it pic.twitter.com/Irhk6zcY5X

— Devine Sports Gospel (@DevineGospel) September 10, 2025

Machado tends to run hot and cold. But not in August and September.

Ever since the Padres have been good, this has been Machado’s time of year.

You will note in the chart above that he has been particularly superb in the seasons in which the Padres have made the postseason. He practically lifted them there himself in 2020 and ‘22. He had help from Jackson Merrill (and Jurickson Profar and David Peralta) last season.

While it sure seemed a couple weeks ago that the Padres are better built to withstand Machado struggling than they were in past seasons, they have fallen to 19-17 since Aug. 1. That includes a 5-10 mark over the past 15 games.

The Padres were 60-49 on July 30. Machado had not endured an extended slump to that point, and he was batting .302 with an .871 OPS.

“Whenever we play good baseball, it takes everyone,” Machado said. “And when we don’t, it’s a lot of load on a few guys. But we have a deep lineup. We have a lot of guys that can carry the team. You’ve seen it over the last few months. Ultimately, it’s about winning ball games and figuring out a way to do it, and this ball club has been doing it.”

Where’s the slug?

The Padres had three hits last night. The Reds had five.

But three of the Reds’ hits were home runs, and that is how they scored all four of their runs.

The Padres, once again, were homerless. It was their 27th homerless game in 70 games at Petco Park this season.

They play in a pitcher-friendly park. That is true.

Petco Park is yielding the sixth-fewest home runs per game (1.94) among all MLB venues this season. And that average is the lowest the ballpark has given up since 2014 (1.25).

But the thing is, opposing teams have 77 home runs at Petco Park this season compared to the Padres’ 59. (The Padres have been outhomered 80-68 on the road.)

“I don’t have the answer for you,” Machado said. “Go find someone who could give you those answers, and then come tell me. I want to know.”

No one, it seems, knows what has happened to the Padres’ slug, especially at Petco Park. (The Padres hit a franchise-record 111 home runs at home last season.)

“Sometimes it’s fair, sometimes it’s not,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “But I don’t (know why). I don’t really have an answer for that. … It’s tough, man. We’re trying to hit homers, we’re trying to barrel balls, and we’re just not getting the result.”

The Padres’ .629 winning percentage (44-26) at Petco Park is the fifth-best home record in the major leagues. And they are scoring slightly more at home than on the road despite having fewer extra-base hits at home.

“We win ballgames at home,” Shildt said. “There’s different philosophies or thoughts about how people want to go about their offense. … To make it clear, we love slug. We love homers. We’re not looking to do anything but have a complete, holistic offense. And I feel good about that.”

He asserted that the Padres “had four balls that were barreled right at the warning track and dead center that didn’t quite get the traction to get out of the ballpark” last night.

They actually had two, both fly ball outs to by Gavin Sheets.

Jose Iglesias also barreled a ball that Will Benson caught at the wall in right field. Ryan O’Hearn flied out to center field at 99.6 mph, which was not technically a “barrel” and was by no means hard enough to leave Petco Park during a night game.

“How concerned am I versus (the number of homers) other teams (are hitting)?” Shildt said. “I’m more concerned about scoring more runs and winning more games.”

Standings update

Yesterday was the first time this month the Padres lost on a day the Dodgers won.

That leaves the Padres right back where they were on Aug. 31 — two games back in the NL West race, which is actually more than that because the Dodgers would win a tiebreaker because they won the season series.

The Padres also lost a game in the standings to the Cubs last night.

The race to watch feels like it is between the Mets (losers of seven of their past 10) and the Giants (winners of 13 of their past 16) for the final wild-card spot.

However, should the Padres and Giants continue on the pace they have each maintained over the past 15 games for the next 15 games — the Padres at 5-10, the Giants at 12-3 — the Padres would be two games behind the Giants with two  games to play in the regular season.

Tatis at it again

The Reds would have had four homers if not for Tatis running back 76 feet, slowing only slightly and adjusting his course a bit before leaping to backhand Tyler Stephenson’s 379-foot drive to right field.

El mundo de Fernando Tatis Jr.

MLB Español x @pepsi pic.twitter.com/kI42DhAGp0

— MLB Español (@mlbespanol) September 10, 2025

It was Tatis’ fourth robbery of the season, all at Petco Park.

He might have created a new personal favorite.

“I really like that one, because probably was quicker than the other ones, and I had less time than the other ones,” he said. “So probably number one.”

You can judge for yourself.

Here is his robbery on Aug. 20.

Here is the one on July 28.

Here is the one on July 8.

Sharing a moment

Machado did enjoy when his protege hit a home run for the Reds in last night’s first inning.

Machado has mentored Reds first baseman Sal Stewart, who was just called up to make his MLB debut on Sept. 1, for about eight years in their shared hometown of Miami.

“It was fun to watch,” Machado said. “He watches a lot of Padres  games, so for him to come here and hit one in front of me, that was pretty cool.”

Good evening, Sal!!!!!@stewart_sal pic.twitter.com/L3LRF1JqNz

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 10, 2025

Machado appeared to smirk as Stewart flashed his mentor a “watch flex” while running past him before rounding third base. The flex, in the vein of one Shedeur Sanders did that went viral when he was a collegiate quarterback, was a nod to a watch Machado gifted Stewart.

“Just to mess with him a little bit,” Stewart said. “I just did the Shedeur with the watch. I was just messing with him. He found it funny, for sure.”

Machado, who is hosting Stewart at his home while the Reds are in town, smiled briefly after Stewart passed.

“I know Michael didn’t love it too much,” Machado said of the home run. “But that was cool.”

In addition to his close relationship with Stewart, Machado has a deep appreciation for the difficulty of the game.

Asked if the moment was bittersweet in that it was a home run against his team, Machado said, “Nah. Nah. Just a lot of excitement. This is the game of baseball. You gotta be excited for stuff. So that’s pretty cool to watch.”

Tidbits

• You can read in Jeff Sanders’ game preview (here) about the lineup construction yesterday, which had Luis Arraez sitting against a right-handed starter for just the second time this season.
• The home run Stewart hit off King was the 13th first-inning homer Padres pitchers have allowed in the past 32 games (since Aug. 5).  That is after they allowed nine first-inning homers in the season’s first 113 games. Nestor Cortes and Yu Darvish have allowed five first-inning home runs apiece since Aug. 5.
•  Merrill last night became the 15th player in the major leagues this season to triple in consecutive games. He is the first Padres player to do so since he did it last August.
• Merrill also doubled last night and has two doubles, two triples and a home run in his past three games. That is the most extra-base hits he has ever had over a three-game span.
• Tatis stole his 29th base of the season, tying his career high set in 2023.
• Machado stole his 13th base, which is his most in a season since swiping 14 in 2018.
• Jeremiah Estrada struck out the side in the sixth inning around a one-out single. Estrada, who also got a groundout to start the seventh before giving way to Wandy Peralta, leads all NL relievers with 97 strikeouts.
• Mason Miller struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning. Since allowing two runs in his second appearance with the Padres, Miller has worked 13⅓ scoreless innings over 13 appearances. In that time, 26 of his 40 outs (65%) have been strikeouts. He has struck out 26 of the 46 batters (56%) he has faced in that span.
• Stephenson’s game-winning home run in last night’s ninth inning was the fourth homer Robert Suarez has allowed in his past 18 appearances. He had surrendered one homer in his first 45 appearances. Suarez has now allowed two more runs (22) in 2⅓ fewer innings (62⅓) than he did in 2024.
• What the Padres did last night in using three high-leverage relievers is a lot more palatable when they win. Estrada, Miller and Suarez have all pitched the past two days and three of the past four days. That would seem to leave Adrian Morejón as the only back-end reliever available tonight. However, Shildt said Monday that one concession the Padres might make given the time of the year is that relievers could work three days in a row. Estrada is the only pitcher Shildt has used three straight days (July 10-12) this season. Miller worked three days in a row once (May 23-25) for the Athletics.
• Last night’s crowd of 41,364 was the Padres’ 62nd sellout, matching the franchise record set in 2023.
• After winning their first five games in which they had exactly three hits this season, the Padres last night lost for the second time in five days when getting three hits.

All right, that’s it for me.

Talk to you tomorrow.