Padres Daily: Power plays; Tatis takes another one; O’Hearn’s pro ABs; Sheets walks the talk

Good morning,

You probably shouldn’t get too excited about four home runs in one game any more than you should get too dejected about a four-game losing streak.

But, hey, the Padres hit more homers last night than they had in a game outside Coors Field this season.

You can at least hope that is a sign of things to come.

Because this team, which has been good enough that it is 15 games above .500, would be scary with some power.

“Makes it really dangerous,” Gavin Sheets said. “I think we put a ton of pressure with our baserunning, with the way we make contact, drive the ball gap to gap. But I think the power is contagious too.”

Sheets homered twice last night, Manny Machado once and Ryan O’Hearn once.

It was the first time the Padres had more than two home runs in a game since June 28. It was their only time with more than three other than when they hit five on May 10 at Colorado.

Sheets’ second home run of the night was just the eighth three-run homer by the Padres this season, tied with the Rockies for fewest in the major leagues.

The Padres’ 110 home runs this season are second fewest in MLB. They rank last in the majors in percentage of runs (30.3%) via home runs.

The Padres pride themselves on playing what they often refer to as “playoff baseball.” That means habitually maximizing strong pitching, solid defense, smart and aggressive baserunning and finding a way to win on the margins.

Pitching is generally better and games are usually lower scoring in the playoffs.

But home runs are still a significant harbinger of success.

The last World Series champion to have ranked lower than 13th in home runs during the regular season was the 2015 Kansas City Royals (24th). The past six champions have ranked in the top 5.

Just seven of the 36 teams to have made the playoffs over the past three seasons have ranked in the bottom 10 in homers during the season. Only one (the 2022 Guardians) ranked as low as 29th.

Home runs do tend to make a difference in the postseason as well.

There has not been a World Series champion who didn’t average better than a home run per postseason game since the 2014 Giants. And just six of the 44 teams who made it to the league championship series over the past 11 seasons have not averaged better than than a homer per game during the postseason.

Why have the Padres been so relatively homerless this season after ranking 10th with 194 home runs in 2024?

One factor is that Jackson Merrill has played in 31 fewer games and hit eight fewer homers than he had at this point last season. And Jurickson Profar (24), Kyle Higashioka (17), Ha-Seong Kim (11) and David Peralta (nine) are no longer on the team.

Also, the Padres are not hitting the ball hard or putting the ball in the air as often as they did in 2024.

The ’24 Padres were late power bloomers too. But their homers started to come in June.

Maybe it just took longer this season. Maybe the new guys will make a difference.

Eight of the Padres’ 17 home runs since Aug. 1 have been hit by Ramón Laureano (four), O’Hearn (three) and Freddy Fermin (one).

One of the newcomers, though, sounded like hitting coach Victor Rodriguez last night.

“I don’t know if it’s a matter of adding home runs,” O’Hearn said. “I just think it’s every night you find a way to score, whether that be by the homer, by 10-pitch, two-out single to score a guy, whatever it may be. I think you just have to rise to the occasion and do what the game calls for.

“Homers are great. I think I can speak for all hitters when I say if you try to hit a homer, it doesn’t really work out. So just staying with that grinder approach, staying in the middle of the field, trying to catch barrels, and then a couple go over the fence, and here we go.”

Tatis taketh away

My game story (here) from last night’s 8-1 victory over the Giants talked about how the Padres have bounced back from their four-game skid to win the past two nights and are now just a game behind the Dodgers in the National League West.

They also gained a game in the wild-card standings on both the Mets and Reds last night.

The gamer detailed the Padres’ home runs and the Giants’ home run that wasn’t.

And let’s talk about that some more, because Fernando Tatis Jr. robbed his third home run of the season in last night’s first inning.

Oh Nando! @Padres #ForTheFaithful pic.twitter.com/NfjLZ9ecEz

— Don Orsillo (@DonOrsillo) August 21, 2025

Tatis said he couldn’t rank the three catches, though the degree of difficulty on this one was pretty high given the ball was hit not quite as high as the others and got to the wall a little quicker.

“I mean, all of them are up there,” he said. “Save a run, just that simple. Man, they’re all good. They’re all unique. This one was a really good one.”

My vote is this catch on July 28, for the difficulty of the timing and the fact he jumped from an almost stopped position:

TATIS ROBBERY pic.twitter.com/0qBPxdCqHF

— Barstool Gambling (@stoolgambling) July 29, 2025

This is Tatis’ third season in right field after a career that began with him playing shortstop. He won a Gold Glove and Platinum Glove in 2023.

Tatis has talked before about playing the outfield as a kid, but he had never provided this story:

“When I was, like, 10 years old, my dad was playing with the Mets,” he said. “We used to live in a small apartment on the very first floor. And the apartment … had a wall right behind (it), and I used to throw it as high as I can to hit the wall. I’m trying to make a leaping jump. Obviously, I missed like 25 of them. So I (had) to jump over the wall and try to get the ball again. But yeah, it started from there.”

Padres pitcher JP Sears was understandably thrilled and duly impressed.

“It was maybe the best play I’ve seen this year — maybe second best I had,” said Sears, who was making his second start for the Padres after being acquired in a trade from the Athletics. “Denzel Clarke made a really good play for me too. Those two guys out there are unreal. … I don’t know. The one tonight was probably the most athletic one when I was out there — just how high he jumped and everything. But I’m getting lucky to be on the good side of those plays.”

DENZEL CLARKE
FULL SPEED
UNBELIEVABLE CATCH pic.twitter.com/TAnMSkksTE

— MLB (@MLB) June 7, 2025

Walking the talk

Sheets said all the right things after the trade deadline, when it was clear he would not be playing as much.

“Obviously, things will change a little bit, but the way I’m gonna go about my business will be the exact same,” he said on Aug. 1. “… Winning baseball is the most fun baseball. So whatever it is, whatever that given role is each day, it’s go out and help win a baseball game. It’s the best brand of baseball, and that’s the baseball we’re gonna play now. Everybody in here knows that everybody’s roles change a little bit, whether it’s bullpen arms or hitters. But the goal is exactly the same, if not even more pronounced now — it’s to win a World Series, and it’s fun baseball.”

It is one thing to say it. How Sheets has followed through is remarkable.

He had started 95 of the 109 games leading up to the trade deadline. Last night was his fourth start in the 18 games since.

He is 5-for-12 with two doubles and two homers in those starts and also has two hits off the bench.

“Stay ready, be ready for any opportunity that came,” Sheets said last night of his mindset. “I could have got frustrated. And at the end of the day, getting frustrated would have only hurt one guy, and that would have been me. So just to be ready for opportunities like this, be ready to step up whenever the time is needed.”

Sheets, whose 44 starts in left field lead the team this season, has started there the past two nights while Ramón Laureano moved over to center field in place of the injured Merrill.

“How do you stay sharp? Are you ready for the opportunities that you are getting?” manager Mike Shildt said. “And he has been able to do that. … A lot of credit, a lot of respect for Gavin to continue to stay with it. The mind is the thing that controls everything, and his ability to keep the right mindset is representative of our team mindset.

“When everybody is going to have the mindset for what’s best for the team and stay ready for that — this time of year, it’s about that. We know and respect and clearly pull for guys individually and want the best for their careers. But when you have a team that has an opportunity to win a division like we do and move on in the playoffs and compete to win a World Series, it’s really going to take a team mentality of, ‘I’ve got to do my part and accept that and stay ready.’ And I’ve been really pleased and proud that guys have been able to do that.”

Sheets now has 17 homers this season, two more than he had ever hit in any of his previous four big-league seasons and tied with Tatis for second most on the team.

Sheets’ second homer of the night came off left-hander Joey Lucchesi. It was the left-handed-hitting Sheets’ second homer of the season and fourth of his career off a lefty.

He is batting .279/.309/.404 in 110 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers this season after batting .168/.216/.242 against them in 176 plate appearances over his first four seasons.

O’Hearn gets it done

One of the things that Padres personnel people said about O’Hearn after they acquired him from the Orioles at the trade deadline was that he “takes a professional at-bat.”

Among the ways that can manifest is in the way a player makes a pitcher work and finds a way to be productive.

O’Hearn’s RBI single in the first inning last night came at the conclusion of one of the more professional at-bats you will see.

O’Hearn fell behind 0-2 against Branden Loupp before fouling off four pitches and watching three balls to get to a full count.

He then sent the 10th pitch he saw, a sinker on the inside corner, into center field for a single that drove in Tatis from second.

“That’s kind of my thing,” O’Hearn said. “I love at-bats like that, just wasting pitches. And especially early in the game, get the starter to throw as many pitches as possible, and then if you can finish with a jam shot single right there, it’s just like I know how much they hate that. Not trying to do too much, compete every pitch, ultimately put the ball in play. Stay in the middle of the field. If I roll over there, I’m unhappy. But just to get jammed and fist a ball into center field and get the run in, that’s what I’m trying to do.”

The single was O’Hearn’s sixth hit in an at-bat of at least eight pitches this season. He ranks 14th in the major leagues with a .548 on-base percentage in full counts and 20th with a .283 average in full counts.

His .311 OBP after getting down 0-2 is eighth best in MLB.

Sears back in business

The explosive offense last night overshadowed the fine performance by Sears, who allowed one run on four hits in six innings last night.

The left-hander, acquired from the Athletics along with reliever Mason Miller at the trade deadline, made his first start for the Padres on Aug. 4 in Arizona.

He allowed five runs in five innings and was sent down to Triple-A the next day, more to make room on the roster for Nestor Cortes than because of his performance.

Sears made one start for Triple-A El Paso and was scheduled to make another Sunday. Instead, he was recalled to take Michael King’s rotation spot.

The Padres went with a bullpen game, with Randy Vásquez filling the “bulk” role, last Friday in King’s first missed game after he was placed on the injured list with left knee inflammation. Vásquez was optioned the next day so the Padres could add a reliever.

So Sears got the opportunity at redemption yesterday.

“I kind of just tried to focus on — the last couple days, weeks — just kind of reminded myself who I was, kind of what my game plan is every time going out there, how my pitches work well,” Sears said. “… It was just about going out there and executing and trusting myself.”

Sears allowed a home run in the fourth inning, after the Padres had taken a 6-0 lead, and then retired eight of the final nine batters he faced.

Shildt credited Sears much as he did Sheets for accepting his role.

“It’s a big part of the game,” Sears said of keeping his head right while in the minors for the first time since 2022. “For me here, it’s just being thankful for any opportunity. And tonight, I was ready to go and just felt like my job here is just to help this team out, win any way we can and no matter what my role is.”

He also worked in Triple-A on refining his pitches, particularly his changeup, which he threw 22 times last night. The 24% usage was the second highest in any of his 24 starts this season.

“I learned some new things,” he said. “Like, just my thought process behind it just the delivery of it — just trying to really keep my delivery much the same with my fastball. I was just working on the quality of the pitch and then being able to really trust it and having good arm speed with it, just not trying not to guide it and just trying to trust it.”

It will be interesting to see what the Padres decide to do now.

With King throwing a simulated game Sunday, his next start will not be until at least next Friday in Minnesota. That means the Padres will need another starter Monday in Seattle.

It seems likely they keep Sears up to make that start since the Padres have been able to manage their relievers’ workload and Vásquez is not eligible to return from Triple-A until Sept. 1.

Morgan has it

Rookie reliever David Morgan took over for Yuki Matsui with two on and two out in the eighth inning and finished the game.

That dropped his ERA to 1.72 in 36⅔ innings (31 games). Morgan threw 14 pitches last night and is averaging 14.6 pitches per inning, which is 18th fewest among MLB relievers who have worked at least 35 innings.

“One of the things that we recognize early about David is, yes, he’s got a nice arm,” Shildt said of Morgan, who has touched 100 mph with his fastball and also has a plus curveball. “David Morgan is going to go out and he’s going to go compete to execute pitches, regardless of circumstance and environment. And when you do that, and you have talent, you have a chance to be as consistently as you possibly can be.”

Another coach said it a different way yesterday afternoon when talking about Morgan:

“He’s got guts and nuts.”

Attendance update

Last night was the 55th sellout of the season at Petco Park, meaning the Padres will break the franchise record this weekend during the Dodgers series.

The record of 56 was set last year.

The Padres are on pace to draw nearly 3.4 million fans this season, which would also break last year’s record of 3,314,593.

They play

My pregame notebook yesterday (here) had an update on Merrill’s status, revealed King’s next step and explained why Xander Bogaerts got the day off.

Shildt was sure to say Bogaerts could have played last night, but he also made it clear he didn’t think it was a bad thing for him to get a night off.

“Our regulars post,” Shildt said.

That is true.

Bogaerts is one of five Padres position players to have started at least 97 games in the field. That is tied with six other teams for second most in the major leagues behind the Cubs’ six.

Tidbits

• Last night was the 33rd time the Padres have allowed one or zero runs, second most in the major league behind the Tigers (34). The Padres are 32-1 in those games.
• Sheets’ second home run had an exit velocity of 88.9 mph, which is tied for the slowest home run in MLB this season. It is one of 50 home runs since 2015 hit that slow, and it is the slowest homer on ever record at Petco Park.
• Machado hit his 21st home run of the season 19 games after he hit his 20th. He will need to pick up the pace over the season’s final 35 games if he is to extend his streak of seasons with at least 28 homers. He is the only active player with at least that many home runs in nine consecutive 162-game seasons.
• His homer last night had a 22 degree launch angle, his 108th homer that low since 2015. That is second in the majors behind Giancarlo Stanton (108) and 31 more than anyone else in that span.
• Tatis was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk. His .417 OBP over his past 44 games is fifth highest in MLB since June 29.
• The Padres’ four-run third inning was their 27th inning this season with at least that many runs. Of those, 10 have come in the 31 games since the All-Star break.
• Sheets’ first home run last night was his 12th go-ahead RBI of the season, tied with Luis Arraez and Jake Cronenworth for third on the team behind Merrill (13) and Machado (19).
• Last night was the 11th time the Padres have won by five or more runs since the All-Star break. They won just seven of their first 96 games by five or more runs. They have increased their run differential from plus-7 (17th in MLB) at the break to plus-54 (eighth).
• O’Hearn has driven in at least one run in four consecutive games, tied for the longest active streak in the majors and one off his career high.
• Wandy Peralta had a 1.35 ERA through his first 14 outings (12⅓ innings). He was charged with eight earned runs over his next three appearances (two innings) and had his ERA swell to 6.46. With a scoreless inning last night, he got his season ERA below 3.00 (2.95). Peralta has a 1.69 ERA in his 40 appearances (42⅔ innings) since that three-game skid.
• Laureano was 2-for-4 and is batting .324 (22-for-68) in 18 games with the Padres. For the season, he is batting .297 with a .904 OPS. That OPS ranks 10th in the majors among the 185 players with at least 350 plate appearances.

All right, that’s it for me.

Talk to you tomorrow.