A brief synopsis of the twists and turns: The Padres took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, fell behind 4-2 in the third, tied the game 4-4 in the sixth, fell behind 6-4 in the seventh, tied the game 6-6 in the seventh, fell behind 7-6 in the eighth, tied the game 7-7 in the eighth and won when the guy who committed their only (extremely costly) error hit a walkoff sacrifice fly in the ninth.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of errors on that board,\u201d said Xander Bogaerts, who booted a ball in the eighth and hit a ball just far enough to center field in the ninth. \u201cI mean, a lot of errors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three of the Rockies\u2019 four errors led directly to Padres\u2019 runs. The fourth Rockies error \u2014 a bounced throw into center field on Jackson Merrill\u2019s steal of second that allowed him to get to third base with no outs in the ninth \u2014 did not officially factor into the winning run scoring because of the two walks that followed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we took advantage of the mistakes,\u201d Jake Cronenworth said. \u201cI think that\u2019s kind of the overall moral of the game. We had every right to lose that game. Both teams did.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just that the Padres could not afford to.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re gonna check back and see what we need to clean up a little bit,\u201d Fernando Tatis Jr. said. \u201cBut it was a good game for us. The biggest part was we got that \u2018W.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Give them credit for that. They spilled the milk. Now they can only try to make sure it doesn\u2019t run all the way down the drain. They went 19-33 in the two months leading up to this winning streak that began Friday. It has left them with little margin.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be lying to you if I said we weren\u2019t feeling pressure,\u201d Michael King said. \u201cEvery time we go out there, it feels like we\u2019ve got to win a game. But I think coming off a sweep of Miami, winning today, knowing that we\u2019re trying to stick together as a unit as best as possible is all you can kind of lean on. And yeah, wins are definitely going to be a premium here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where they stand<\/p>\n
No game that has 45 more after it can be considered a must-win in the strictest sense. But the Padres going 19-33 from May 24 to July 23 made it so that many games going forward will feel imperative.<\/p>\n
A loss to a team that started a pitcher with a 6.53 ERA and that makes four errors would carry with it an extra feeling of failure.<\/p>\n
Conversely, victories now change outlooks.<\/p>\n
The Padres\u2019 fourth straight win kept them 1\u00bd games behind the Diamondbacks, who hold the final National League playoff spot.<\/p>\n
And how about this? The two games the Marlins have won since the Padres left Miami with a sweep have come against the Phillies. So the fifth seed is suddenly in play.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/standings_e73cad.png\")
<\/p>\n
Back at it<\/p>\n
Last night was the third time in their four-game winning streak the Padres have scored the deciding run in the seventh inning or later.<\/p>\n
Back in the season\u2019s first month-and-a-half, when the Padres were winning so many games in ways that seemed impossible, we wondered whether it was sustainable.\u00a0 And it seemed we were correct to wonder.<\/p>\n
On May 13, in their 42nd game of the season, the Padres beat the Brewers 3-1 on Gavin Sheets\u2019 three-run homer in the ninth inning.<\/p>\n
It was their 13 victory (of 25 total) secured with a run scored in the seventh inning or later and their eighth victory secured in their final offensive half-inning.<\/p>\n
Over their next 36 games, the Padres decided six more victories in the seventh or later and three of those in their final at-bat.<\/p>\n
Then, in 25 games from June 24 through Friday, a 5-4 victory over the Blue Jays in the final game before the All-Star break was their only victory earned in the seventh or later.<\/p>\n
They appear to have gotten their late-game footing again.<\/p>\n
In the series opener in Miami on Friday, they scored twice in the eighth to break a 2-2 tie. Sunday, they scored four runs in the eighth inning to come back from a two-run deficit.<\/p>\n
Last night was the second time in this winning streak they came back from multiple runs down. That is something they did six times in April and five times in May before doing it just four times between May 30 and Friday.<\/p>\n
Again, last night was hardly a thing of beauty. But it was more evidence of the Padres\u2019 resilience.<\/p>\n
Challenging situation<\/p>\n
Padres manager Craig Stammen and infield coach Ryan Goins were ejected in the fourth inning, and it probably could have been avoided if home plate umpire Jeremie Rehak had not been so offended by the yelling from the Padres\u2019 dugout.<\/p>\n
After calling a strike on a pitch more than four inches below the zone, Rehak turned toward the noise coming from the Padres dugout and did not appear to even see Bogaerts immediately tap his helmet to signal for a challenge.<\/p>\n
Whether or not Rehak saw the challenge didn\u2019t matter because he said the Padres dugout had influenced Bogaerts\u2019 decision to challenge, which is forbidden. Given the timing \u2014 as seen in real time by anyone paying attention and apparent in this video<\/a> \u2014 that seemed a dubious judgment.<\/p>\n \u201cI was shocked he even called it a strike,\u201d Bogaerts said. \u201cI remember I took it and I heard, \u2018Strike.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Nah.\u2019 (Rehak) went off of the dugout screaming or whatever. Now, if I looked at the dugout and then, you know, I mean, I can see it. \u2026 But I was totally shocked that he even called a strike. It was pretty bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Rehak walked toward the dugout and Stammen came out to make his case that Bogaerts had called for the challenge without any prompting.<\/p>\n That is not when Stammen was thrown out.<\/p>\n That happened after Bogaerts grounded into a fielder\u2019s choice on the next pitch.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he threw me out because our dugout wasn\u2019t stopping, and I was our representative at that point,\u201d Stammen said. \u201c\u2026 So in the midst of not wanting to toss everybody, I got the heave-ho.\u201d<\/p>\n As Stammen continued to argue with Rehak, Goins was yelling from the top step of the dugout and was ejected by first base umpire Dan Iassogna.<\/p>\n Stammen was diplomatic after the game.<\/p>\n \u201cOur team and our coaching staff \u2026 we\u2019re just invested in every pitch so much that sometimes our emotions get heavy and we see what we perceive as a pitch that\u2019s low \u2014 because that\u2019s what we can see from the dugout \u2014 and we (yell), \u2018Ohhh!\u2019 That kind of thing. Not \u2018Challenge it\u201d or anything like that. And the umpire took it as us influencing Xander to challenge a pitch.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the timing of when Xander challenged the pitch, I don\u2019t agree with that. That\u2019s why we got in an argument. And (Rehak) will probably look back, and \u2014 it\u2019s a new thing. The ABS is a new thing. I know we\u2019re 100 games into the season or whatever, but the umpires are still trying to figure it out. We\u2019re trying to figure it out. \u2026 We\u2019re rooting for our guy in the box is the biggest question in that, so I don\u2019t think they can take that away from us. But in the end, it\u2019s just a disagreement.\u201d<\/p>\n Stammen reiterated his belief an umpire has to see what the batter\u2019s intent was independent of the dugout, which most would probably agree should have been obvious to Rehak last night.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s not an easy thing to do,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cI can\u2019t say I would do way better if I was an umpire. I would do way worse if I was an umpire. So a little bit of grace for them too. It\u2019s just a different situation that we\u2019re all getting used to.\u201d<\/p>\n Big night<\/p>\n Tatis followed up his first hitless series of the season with the first five-hit game of his career.<\/p>\n \u201cWe told him, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re out of Miami, you can start getting hits again\u2019\u201d Stammen said.<\/p>\n \u201cMiami, ooof!\u201d Tatis said. \u201cGood to be home.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been just 10 five-hit games in the major leagues this season. Before last night, the most recent Padres player with five hits in a game was Cronenworth on June 21, 2024.<\/p>\n Tatis\u2019 .285 average ranks 13th in the National League. He is batting .323 in 56 games since May 24, seventh best in the NL.<\/p>\n Tidbits<\/p>\n Merrill was 3-for-5 last night. It was his third straight multi-hit game, and he is batting .457 with a 1.402 OPS over the past nine games. I wrote about some changes Merrill has made (mechanical and otherwise) in Monday\u2019s newsletter<\/a>. All right, that\u2019s it for me.<\/p>\n Early game today (1:10 p.m. PT).<\/p>\n Talk to you tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Good morning, There is no getting around how poorly played last night\u2019s game was in many ways. 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\nManny Machado was also 3-for-5, which extended his on-base streak to 18 games. He is batting .343\/.420\/.629 during the streak. He has raised his batting average 29 points in that span, to .216, the highest it has been since May 2 (.219).
\nYou can read Jeff Sanders\u2019 game preview (here<\/a>) for updates on relievers Jeremiah Estrada and Jason Adam, who were at Petco Park yesterday.
\nI wrote on Thursday (here<\/a>) about A.J. Preller\u2019s creativity at the trade deadline, which should be considered as the Padres are seen as having a diminished farm system from which to deal. Yesterday, Tom Krasovic wrote (here<\/a>) about that farm system.
\nMason Miller struck out the side in order in the ninth inning for the seventh time this season. It was the 12th times he has gotten all three outs in an inning via strikeout.
\nBogaerts\u2019 single in the second inning was his 1,899th career hit.
\nBogaerts\u2019 past three walk-off RBIs (of the eighth in his career) have come against the Rockies. The others were April 9 of this year and Sept. 19, 2023. He doesn\u2019t just wait until the end against them either. His 1.096 OPS (in 203 career plate appearances) against the Rockies is third highest among active players behind Giancarlo Stanton (1.203) and Shohei Ohtani (1.182).
\nLast night was the 14th time King completed at least six innings this season. The rest of the Padres starters have nine such starts between them. (Randy V\u00e1squez has four, Walker Buehler three, Griffin Canning one and Germ\u00e1n M\u00e1rquez one.)
\nLuis Campusano threw out Cole Carrigg trying to steal second base in the second inning last night, the 27th caught stealing by a Padres catcher this season. That is second most in the major leagues. Campusano has thrown out five of 24 would-be base stealers, Rodolfo Dur\u00e1n seven of 23 and Freddy Fermin 15 of 49.
\nThe Padres are 32-19 against teams with losing records. They have 21 games remaining against teams that currently have a losing record. They also have six games remaining against teams that are currently .500 and nine games remaining against teams that are currently two games above .500.
\nLast night was the Padres\u2019 seventh walk-off win in 2026, which is tied with three other teams for second most in the major leagues behind the Cubs (10). It was their third walk-off win over the Rockies.
\nThe Padres have had at least 13 hits in five of their past 16 games. That is the same number they had in their first 91 games.
\nThe Padres have scored at least five runs in 10 of their past 13 games. Here are their offensive numbers (with MLB rank in parentheses) during that span, which began July 11:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/since711.png\")
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