Padres Daily: Walking the talk; Fernando Tatis Jr.’s two plays; top shape

Good morning,

Rare is the professional baseball player who so overtly and so thoroughly enjoys the sport as much as Jackson Merrill.

And from his perspective, last night’s 7-6 walk-off victory over the Mets was about as good as it gets.

“It’s the best kind of game,” the Padres’ 22-year-old center fielder said. “It’s a great baseball game for both sides. Coming out on top of those games, it feels way better than when you come out on bottom. I’d rather win a game like that than win 9-1.”

It is fun to be the team that came back from four runs down.

It is fun to be the team that gets seven hits and scores five runs in an inning.

It is fun in the end when you get to run on the field to be a part of the mob celebrating a walk-off hit.

The Padres have had a number of wins like last night, more than any other team in the major leagues since the end of last year.

They just had not had many lately.

Last night was their ninth victory since the start of the 2024 season in a game in which they trailed by four or more runs.

They had six last season. This was their third such comeback this season and their first since May 27, the season’s 53rd game.

Last night was the Padres’ 107th game, and they had come back to win just eight times after trailing by even two runs in their past 54 games.

Multi-run comebacks are not common. A team has won after being down by more than one run in slightly more than one in five games this season. And comebacks from four down have happened in just 3% of MLB games this season.

So it was merited that Mike Shildt would wax poetic about his team’s heart, as he did in my game story (here).

But the significance of what happened last night was not just that the Padres did what they did. It was that they are doing it again.

They said they knew they had it in them because they had done it before. But those were just words for a couple months. And those words were justifiably met with figurative eye rolls quite a bit.

Now the Padres are hitting again, piling remarkable at-bats on top of admirable at-bats on top of just plain good at-bats.

Teams like that rarely feel like a game is over.

You just didn’t see that version of the Padres much at all from mid-May until a couple weeks ago.

But last night, after Mark Vientos hit a grand slam that put the Mets up 5-1 in the top of the fifth inning, the Padres got seven hits and sent 11 batters to the plate en route to scoring five runs in the bottom of the fifth.

“When we saw they took that lead, I mean, everybody was pushing for each other in the dugout,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “We knew that we were not going to be out of the game.”

Said Merrill: “I think after the grand slam, we all just kind of turned the page. No one really came in and was like, ‘Boo-hoo.’ We came in and we were like, ‘All right, let’s go. … Let’s chip away. Chip, chip, chip.’”

As we have noted here a couple times, the Padres began showing signs earlier this month of returning to who they were the second half of last season and the first 40 or so games of this season.

After a series of hitters meetings in late June and early July emphasizing the need to shrink the strike zone and get back to just being one link in an offensive chain, the signs were there in the 10-game homestand that preceded the All-Star break.

The results were not overwhelming. The Padres won six games, hit .253 and had a .709 OPS, significant improvements over their previous month-and-a-half. But they averaged just 3.1 runs a game and never scored more than five.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” Manny Machado said at the break. “We got hot early, and we kind of have been just surviving after that. It’s a roller coaster. You can’t really be hot all year. … We did start to get hot as a group (before the break).”

Last night was the fifth time in 11 games since that time that the Padres have scored at least seven runs.

It was the sixth time they have had at least 11 hits.

And their big emphasis in the past few days has been runners in scoring position. There was a disappointment that verged on disgust in Jake Cronenworth’s voice Friday night after the Padres went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position in a 3-0 loss to the Cardinals. They were at that point batting an MLB-worst .205 with RISP over the previous month (24 games).

“All the hits are great,” he said dismissively. “It’s not getting them with runners in scoring position.”

The Padres were just 1-for-11 in a 3-1 victory the next night but 6-for-19 in Sunday’s 9-2 win and 7-for-15 last night.

It did not hurt that one of those hit was Luis Arraez’s home run with Tatis on second base. That was just the Padres’ seventh home run in 12 games. They have dropped to second-fewest home runs per game (.84), and the 30.3% of their runs that are scored via homers is second-lowest after only the Pirates (30.2%).

But they won because one of their guys who has a tendency to swing for the fences did not when it mattered most.

Elias Díaz is a big swinger. Like, he creates wind.

But, with a batting average that had dipped below .200, he spent his time in the batting cage the past couple days slowing down and working on being short to the ball with his swing.

After driving in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning with a two-out single, Díaz came to the plate in the ninth inning with two outs and runners at first and second base.

He swung mightily at two pitches to get down 0-2 before a more controlled swing sent a slider on the outer edge foul the other way, down the right field line.

Then the swing he put on Mets reliever Gregory Soto’s sinker in the middle of the zone could not have been more compact, and it sent the ball on a line into left field at just 89 mph.

“It just got to a point where it’s been a little bit more of a grind for us,” Shildt said. “It likely was a lot of guys trying to do too much. The guy that had the game-winning hit is an example of that. He’s a good player. He’s been looking and searching a little bit and trying to do too much. And today was really good about just — and I could tell by the fight; he was in there with two strikes and fouled a couple balls out there — and then he’s on the ball and just trying to make contact. That was indicative of what we are and who we are.”

As Jose Iglesias ran home from second base and slid across the plate with the winning run, Díaz giddily rounded first and ran into the outfield grass while teammates poured from the dugout in pursuit.

The first to reach him: Merrill.

Elias Díaz puts an exclamation point on a wild game in San Diego! #Walkoff pic.twitter.com/QwadhgTX9h

— MLB (@MLB) July 29, 2025

Platinum man

Tatis ruined the Mets’ night in a spectacular way, taking two runs away from them in the fourth inning and making sure they didn’t get anything started in the sixth.

Both plays were sensational. The first, though, was in a league of its own.

There are several outfielders who could make the sliding catch Tatis did to take a hit away from Ronny Mauricio.

There might not be another outfielder playing today who could rob Vientos of a homer in the manner Tatis did.

With a runner on first base and no one out in the fourth, Tatis ran back to the right field wall on Vientos’ long drive. He slowed, altered his course, took five choppy little steps and then one big step before leaping and thrusting his glove above the 10-foot wall and making the catch.

FERNANDO TATIS JR. BRINGS IT BACK! pic.twitter.com/6qnODYMmOj

— MLB (@MLB) July 29, 2025

“It was good timing and being blessed by the gods,” Tatis said.

Indeed. The most prescient, experienced outfielder, if not blessed with the ability to get that high, doesn’t make that catch.

“That ball was so far over the fence, it was kind of incredible, actually,” said Merrill, who had the best view in the ballpark. “It was so far over the fence from my view. That was insane.”

Merrill had run all the way from center field by the time Tatis landed back on the ground. Merrill’s face showed how shocked he was, and he went to throw his arms up over his head to celebrate.

But the only thing Tatis did not do smoothly was hold onto the ball, and it came out of his glove  when he went to throw it in. So Merrill lowered his hands quickly, picked up the ball and sent it toward the infield.

“I probably got a little bit too excited,” Tatis said.

The play was one of those that happens from time to time that is emblematic of why Tatis is special.

“There’s some real, real amazing talent on display every night,” Shildt said of MLB players. “But he just made two of the best plays you’re going to see — much less than within two innings.”

The other play came on a flare by Mauricio into shallow right field. Tatis sprinted in 73 feet (at a top speed of 28.7 feet per second) and slid while reaching out to snare the ball just before it hit grass.

“It’s got a little spin, it’s cutting away from (Tatis),” Shildt said. “And most guys don’t have the ability to outrun a baseball.”

Fernando Tatis Jr. on the slide to make the grab! pic.twitter.com/CHVD3xK5rq

— MLB (@MLB) July 29, 2025

In the conversation

Adrian Morejón was the last of the three Padres’ relievers to be named to the All-Star team.

Jason Adam, the first reliever in, said while in Atlanta along with Robert Suarez and Morejón: “I told him when he got it he deserved it more than anyone,” Adam said. “He’s been, in my opinion, the best — maybe (Red Sox All-Star Aroldis) Chapman, but like, outside of that — the best lefty in all of baseball.”

It is time to start thinking about Morejón as one of the best relievers, period.

He worked 1⅔ scoreless innings last night to lower his ERA to 1.66, fourth best in the majors among relievers who have thrown at least 45 innings.

Morejón struck out four of the five batters he faced while the other was a victim of Tatis’ second great catch. His .162 average allowed is fifth best among relievers who have had at least 150 at-bats against them.

Morejon, who has allowed one earned run over his past 30 appearances (29⅓ innings), has also stranded 87.1% of the runners (27 of 41) he has inherited. That is best in the majors among those who have inherited at least 25 runners.

Top shape

Tatis sounded like a guy who had seen false starts before.

“We’re capable of doing it,” he said Thursday in St. Louis. “It’s a matter of repeating it.”

That was after the Padres scored seven runs in a game against the Cardinals, which followed a three-game series in Miami in which they scored a total of seven runs. Also on Thursday, Arraez, Machado, Merrill, Tatis and Xander Bogaerts all had at least one hit.

Last night, it happened for the fourth time in the past five games and the sixth time in the past 14 games.

It had happened just four times in the previous 49 games they had all been in the lineup.

“Everyone is kind of searching for their things,” Machado said when asked after Thursday’s game why the five of them can’t get it together more often. “When you go through tough stretches like we have, you kind of fight fires, fall into your traps. It’s normal. The good thing is it doesn’t last forever. It doesn’t last for six months. We’re coming out of it.”

We have spent a lot of time here talking about the importance of the Padres’ core group of players and how their production is far more important than whatever move A.J. Preller pulls off before Thursday’s trade deadline.Here is a look at how things have been trending up for the five players the Padres most count on:

• Arraez went into the break in a 1-for-21 skid. He has at least one hit in each of the 11 games since then and is batting .391 (18-for-46) in that stretch. He has his average up to .292 and his on-base percentage up to. 326.
• Bogaerts was 3-for-5 last night, which raised his batting average to .270 for the first time since April 15. His .358 average since June 16 is highest in the National League, and his .968 OPS is seventh highest in that span.
• Machado has been the Padres’ most consistent offensive performer and last night took over the NL batting average lead (.302). But he hit .200/.268/.410 in 26 games from June 21 through July 22. Last night, he extended his streak of games with at least two hits to six. He is batting .600 (15-for-25) during the streak.
• Merrill is batting a modest .265 (9-for-34) during an eight-game hitting streak. But four of those hits have come with runners in scoring position, and he has six RBIs.
• Tatis’ OPS slipped to .798 on Wednesday. In the five games since, he is 8-for-21 (.381) with four doubles, a homer, three walks and six runs.

This is why they say hitting is contagious.

Remember yesterday’s newsletter in which I wrote that the Padres are the only team in the major leagues to have the bottom three spots in the batting order all rank in the bottom eight in MLB in OPS?

Well, Cronenworth, Bryce Johnson and Díaz combined to go 5-for-9 with a walk and drive in four runs last night. The batters in the bottom third of the Padres’ order are 12-for-31 over the past three games.

“That’s huge when the whole team is going the same way at the same time,” Merrill said. “So finally, we get to that point, and we’re excited for the final stretch.”

Showing up

There may not have been more Mets fans at Petco Park last night than there were Dodgers fans in June.

But they were louder.

Eventually, that seemed to energize the Padres fans, who effectively drowned out every “Let’s Go Mets” chant and made sure the boos for Juan Soto were louder than the cheers.

“This ballpark was electric tonight,” Shildt said. “This place is special. So kudos to the Friar Faithful.”

The Padres are virtually guaranteed to set an attendance record for the third consecutive season.

Last night was the 50th home game of the season and the 44th sellout. Through 50 games last season, Petco Park had been sold out 29 times.

Tidbits

• You can read about how Michael King’s simulated game went in Jeff Sanders’ story (here). That story also explains the Padres’ rotation machinations were just what we talked about yesterday.
• Jeremiah Estrada got the final out of the seventh inning and has not allowed a run in 15⅔ innings over his past 16 appearances.
• Padres catchers are batting .313 over the past 10 games. They went into this stretch batting a combined .187 on the season. Díaz is 5-for-18 with a homer since July 19. Martín Maldonado is 5-for-14 with three doubles in that span.
• Arraez’s six home runs this season are the second most in his career behind the 10 he hit in 2023 and the eight he hit in 2022. His rate of one home run every 89.3 at-bats in his career is the lowest among any of the 107 players with at least 2,500 plate appearances since 2019.
• Machado had not been hit by a pitch this season until getting hit twice on Saturday. He was hit again last night. The three times being hit in a span of 10 plate appearances puts him halfway to his career high of six in 2019.
• Machado had gone 42 games without a stolen base before swiping his ninth bag of the season last night.
• Johnson started in left field and went 2-for-5 and drove in a run. Johnson, who I wrote about in yesterday’s newsletter, is batting .366 with an .834 OPS in 45 plate appearances this season.
• Last night’s game took 3 hours, 21 minutes, the Padres’ third-longest game of the season.

All right, that’s it for me.

Talk to you tomorrow.