Good morning from Cleveland,
They had just won a game on a walkoff single in the 11th inning, completing a sweep of the team that arrived in San Diego with the best record in the major leagues.
They had moved into playoff position for the first time in more than six weeks.
They had won for the fifth day in a row and the 15th time in 19 games.
All those were reasons for the Padres’ onfield celebration to be more emphatic than usual yesterday. With stronger embraces and bigger smiles and firmer high fives.
“I think it was because everybody is tired,” Jake Cronenworth said a short while later.
There was that too.
The Padres’ first day off after 16 straight days with a game and 26 games in 27 days was reason to revel.
Moreover, to be dragging that bad and playing that well was an accomplishment to celebrate.
“I think it’s the light at the end of the tunnel type of mentality,” Ty France said. “We knew we had an off day coming up, so it was just do whatever we can to get there and use tomorrow to recover. I think everyone in here knows what’s at stake and where we’re at, and just trying to play the best baseball we can.”
The Padres have recently faced a series of mile markers. They considered it paramount that they play well heading into those markers. And to varying degrees, they met that goal each time.
They lost their season-high eighth consecutive game on July 4 before winning the next day and going 5-3 heading into the All-Star break.
They knew going into and coming out of the break they were running out of time before the trade deadline to demonstrate to president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and ownership that the roster was worth investing in at the trade deadline to make it better for a playoff push.
They did not burst out of the break. They treaded water for a week before getting hot. They won eight of the 10 games leading up to the Aug. 3 deadline.
At that point, the Padres were six games into this run of 16. That became the next horizon to conquer. They won seven of the remaining 10 games, including five of six on the homestand that concluded yesterday.
“We didn’t succumb to the, ‘Man, we played so many in a row. We’re tired. We’re worn out,’” manager Craig Stammen said. “Actually, it has invigorated us and it has shown us we can handle about anything. And I think the struggles we had earlier in the year probably helped us in these moments too. And then also the part of where we are in the standings. We really don’t have the fortune to take it easy. We’ve got to get after it, and the way that the players are responding to that, the way they’re treating each other, the way they’re caring about each other in the dugout, in the bullpen, in the clubhouse is a big reason why they’ve been able to energize themselves through this streak of a lot of games.”
The Padres were 5½ games out with five teams between them and a playoff spot on July 10.
Essentially, they had no choice but to play their best baseball.
“I think a lot of it had to do with the position we were in when we started this, maybe even a little bit after we had started it.,” Cronenworth said. “Obviously, it was kind of a race to the trade deadline for us. You see all the pressure on us to go out there and perform and let A.J. do what he does. And after that, it’s like, ‘Man, this is the group we got. Let’s go out and take it.’
“In years past, we haven’t been in that position where we’ve had to race to the trade deadline. But I think this year, especially how we had kind of been playing the last few weeks, months before that, I think it kind of sparked something in the group and really put us in a spot to continue to do what we’re doing right now.”
You can read more about how tired the Padres were and how they came out on top of a tense whipsaw in my game story (here) from yesterday’s 4-3 victory.
It was another contest in which they didn’t play perfectly, but they played completely.
Where it felt they were lucky in April — the only other portion of the season that compares to this one in terms of wins and losses — it feels like they are good now.
They did what a good team does. They took advantage of their opponent’s miscues. They overcame good pitching and pounced on lesser pitching. They persevered through their letdowns. Their biggest stars came up big.
“Right on time,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “I keep saying it that way. You know, we have come together as a ballclub, as a team, and that’s what is needed. Obviously, a sweep against a team like this, it keeps boosting our confidence all the way up. So we better keep it that way.”
Yes, there are 40 games to play. Multiple advances and retreats could be ahead.
But the Padres have gained 6½ games in the standings in the past 33 days, and they control their own destiny.
And they now have five straight Thursdays off, which means they do not play more than six games in a row until mid-September.
“It’s helpful,” France said. “For sure. We went 17 straight before the break, 10 straight out of the break and then 16 straight. So, we’re definitely looking forward to that.”
Big little things
A big reason yesterday’s victory felt so compellingly complete was what happened in the eighth inning.
For a more detailed look at how the Padres went about tying the game 2-2, you can read Tom Krasovic’s column (here).
It really was an impressive sequence of plate appearances and baserunning.
In short, Tatis entered the game as a pinch-hitter and was pitched around, walking on four pitches. Luis Rengifo followed with a nine-pitch walk and, on the ninth pitch of his at-bat, Jake Cronenworth beat out a chopper to the right side with his second-fastest sprint to first base this season. Tatis had reached third on the grounder, and as Brewers pitcher Aaron Ashby kept running away from the infield after stepping on first base trying to get Cronenworth, Tatis took off for home and scored without drawing a throw.
-Jake Cronenworth wins the race to 1B
-Fernando Tatis Jr. scores from 2B
The @Padres tie the game in the 8th! pic.twitter.com/11H7li4lAg
— MLB (@MLB) August 12, 2026
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a guy score from second base on a ground ball to first base,” Robbie Ray said after the game.
That is because he just joined the Padres at the trade deadline.
Just a sampling: Tatis has in his career scored from second on a grounder to shortstop, scored from third on a grounder to the pitcher, tagged up and scored on a fly ball caught by a second baseman. He has several times gone first to third on a ball that never left the infield. He has scored on a passed ball that never got more than six feet from the catcher.
It is imperative to the Padres’ success that Tatis slugs.
He is not being paid $340 million over 14 seasons to be fast or even fast and smart and fearless. But fast and smart and fearless never slump. And sometimes fast and smart and fearless combine to win games.
Tatis has since his rookie season made a point to acknowledge the value of every aspect of his game. Partly because small ball doesn’t get the love he feels it deserves and partly because he knows the number of players that can do all he does can be counted on one hand, Tatis might value what he does on the bases most of all.
One day during spring training, after recounting some of his favorite moments on the bases and having others listed for him, he said, “Those are head plays that really most players cannot do or they don’t have their heads on a swivel in those moments. Those are my favorite plays.”
Marathon man
Adrian Morejón worked two innings for the seventh time this season, and it may have been the most arduous.
The left-hander entered the game in the 10th inning and got through that facing just three batters despite allowing a single, because Luis Campusano threw out Brice Turang attempting to steal third base.
Morejón then got out of a mess in the 11th.
Gary Sánchez led off the inning with a double down the left field line that gave the Brewers a 3-2 lead. Sánchez advanced to third on a wild pitch, and Morejón walked the next batter before getting consecutive strikeouts sandwiched around David Hamilton’s steal of second. And after an intentional walk to Jackson Chourio, Morejón struck out Turang.
There is no pitcher consistently used in the latter portions of games in higher-leverage situations who has thrown as many innings than Morejón.
And that his 65⅓ innings have come in 56 appearances is practically unheard of for a back-end reliever in the modern game.
K maker
Padres catcher Freddy Fermin got three ball calls overturned yesterday, and all three became a third strike.
Fermin, who for much of the season could not seem to get the hang of the new strike zone, has now been successful on nine of his past 11 challenges. The success follows a run of eight consecutive failed challenges.
“I had to learn,” Fermin said. “It was new.”
There is a possibility that Fermin’s concussion and continued foul balls off his mask affected his ABS judgment as well. His improvement on challenges began shortly after his improvement at the plate.
Fermin has maintained all season that his head is clear.
Stammen noted how much Fermin seemed to try to be overzealous in trying to help his pitchers with some challenges.
“These catchers, like the first thing (is they) want to fight for a pitch,” Stammen said. “They’re used to framing pitches and fooling the umpire into calling a strike. And I think the ABS has changed that to where you can’t fool the umpire anymore, you know. It’s got to be a strike. And I think they’re learning that you can’t, you know, make a ball a strike anymore. It’s got to be a strike, and I think they’re taking advantage of that.”
Ray, rest of the day
Ray was ahead 1-2 against Turang before surrendering an RBI single in the third inning and ahead 1-2 against both of the batters he walked in the fourth.
He was able to get out of that inning but was at 84 pitches, and that was the end of his day.
That sums up Ray’s second start with the Padres.
“Honestly, it felt a lot better than the first one,” Ray said. “I felt back to normal. I felt like I was moving the fastball around. Felt like the changeup was really good. Getting a lot of good bad swings on it. Slider felt really good. It’s just the pitch count got a little elevated there, with some deep counts and some walks. But overall, I felt really good.”
Stammen made the decision to chase the victory with his bullpen, and five relievers put together six scoreless innings before the Brewers scored in the 11th.
“I felt like I had another one in me,” Ray said. “But Craig made the decision that was enough. … I mean, this is a great bullpen. They’ve got great arms down there. They’re able to cover multiple innings, so it’s nice to have those guys down there, for sure, to pick you up when you do get an elevated pitch count earlier in the game.”
Stammen said the work Ray had to do in his 28-pitch fourth inning made the decision for him.
“If we send him back out, we’re going to have somebody getting loose anyway,” Stammen said. “So I just felt like we had a rested bullpen. We could go to them. I wasn’t expecting to go (as) deep in the game as we (did), but the off day is definitely going to help that.”
Even with the off days, the Padres are going to have to monitor their relievers. They are one of two teams (with Toronto) to have four pitchers work at least 51 innings out of the bullpen.
The Padres have gotten 526 innings from their bullpen, third most in the majors. Their 3.54 bullpen ERA ranks fifth.
May Day
What Dustin May did Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park was more of a subtle domination than the last time he faced the Padres.
The Padres got their first hit before their first out, which was much earlier than they did in either of May’s two previous starts against them.
On June 15, May took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and ended up with a one-hit shutout, and on May 9 he allowed his first hit in the fifth inning before being charged with three runs (two earned) in six innings. Those starts were while May was pitching for the Cardinals before being acquired by the Brewers at the deadline.
Yesterday, the Padres had the leadoff runner on against May in four innings but hit into double plays in all of them. They did not score in any of the three such innings he finished.
The Padres’ lone run against May came on Xander Bogaerts’ solo home run in the third inning, and he allowed just three other hits and walked two in seven innings. (He began the eighth with a walk to Gavin Sheets before reliever Chad Patrick got a double play.)
“He’s just a pitcher that’s getting better,” Stammen said of May. “… When he first came up, he was just a huge sinker and a big sweeper, and now he’s adding a cutter in, and he’s able to throw a four-seamer with that. He’s got a bunch of pitches in his repertoire. And today he threw a bunch of strikes. I think the only time we can really get to him is when he’s a little bit erratic — and in the strike zone. But he just wasn’t that today. He pretty much mowed us down, and we just hung in there just enough to be able to have a chance.”
May has now allowed four runs (three earned) in 22 innings against the Padres this year, but they have come back to win the two games he did not finish.
Tidbits
When he walks to the plate for the first time tomorrow night, Jackson Merrill will ostensibly become $5 million richer. That will be his 500th plate appearance of the season, and a stipulation in his contract states that his reaching that mark adds $1 million to five different years of his contract. So the guarantee on his nine-year contract goes from $135 million to $140 million.
Merrill has hit in seven consecutive games and has an extra-base hit in six straight.
Ty France was 2-for-4 yesterday. It was his 31st multi-hit game, one fewer than Merrill and two fewer than Tatis. France has started 37 fewer games than both Merrill and Tatis. France is batting .295, which ranks third among first basemen with more than 210 plate appearances. His .874 OPS ranks fifth.
Campusano, whose single drove in the winning run, has the highest batting average (.324) and OPS (.924) among all players whose primary position is catcher.
Rookie Bradgley Rodriguez did not allow a run while working the fifth and sixth innings. He has not allowed a run in any of his five career appearances that have lasted two innings. Yesterday was his third two-inning appearance in seven days.
Bogaerts’ home run was his first since July 10, a span of 25 games and 105 plate appearances without one.
Manny Machado was 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position yesterday. Outside of his going 3-for-3 in that circumstance on Aug. 4, he has two hits in his other 20 such at-bats dating to July 17. Machado’s .228 batting average with runners in scoring position this season is well off his career mark of .309 coming into 2026.
Reliever Jason Adam began throwing weighted balls against a wall Monday and is expected to play catch next week. The Padres are hopeful that Adam, out since July 1 with a shoulder strain, will return in the first half of September.
Joe Musgrove threw his between-starts bullpen yesterday and is scheduled to make his third rehab start Friday for Triple-A El Paso. It could be Musgrove’s final outing before returning to pitch for the Padres, though there were indications the team might opt for him to make another minor-league start.
Yesterday’s game (at three hours, 46 minutes) was the Padres’ third-longest of the season. Only their 12-inning victory over the Rockies on April 9 (3:52) and a loss in 11 innings to the Reds on June 9 (3.48) were longer.
All right, that’s it for me.
No game today, so no newsletter tomorrow.
I will have a story on our Padres page today explaining how and why Steven Souza Jr. and the rest of the Padres hitting coaches evidently no longer stink at their job. (That was sarcasm, to be sure.)
The next Padres Daily will arrive in your inbox Saturday.
Talk to you then.