![\"Atlanta](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/atlanta-braves-v-san-diego-padres-san-diego-california-june-23.jpg\")
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SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 23: Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 of the San Diego Padres is congratulated in the dugout after scoring a run during the second inning against the Atlanta Braves at Petco Park on June 23, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The San Diego Padres<\/a> have won two straight games against the San Francisco Giants after dropping the series opener on Thursday.<\/p>\n Now, they will look to secure the series win on Sunday with Kyle Hart on the mound against Giants pitcher Landon Roupp.<\/p>\n However, ahead of the matchup, Padres manager Craig Stammen made a controversial lineup decision involving star outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr.<\/p>\n Padres Announce Tatis Jr. Change<\/p>\n After the lineup card was released, Padres fans noticed that Tatis Jr. would not start on Sunday despite his success against Roupp in 10 career at-bats.<\/p>\n Against Roupp, Tatis Jr. is slashing .600\/.636\/.700 with a 1.336 OPS. However, after playing in all three games of the series, he will likely remain available off the bench.<\/p>\n Gavin Sheets will start in right field, while the rest of the outfield will feature Jackson Merrill in center field and Luis Rengifo in left field.<\/p>\n Padres 8\/2<\/p>\n L. Rengifo LF K. Hart SP<\/p>\n \u2014 Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) August 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Usually, when Tatis Jr. gets a day off defensively, he moves into the designated hitter role. However, Manny Machado will serve as the DH on Sunday, while Sung-mun Song will get the start at third base.<\/p>\n Tatis Jr.\u2019s 2026 Season<\/p>\n After a slow start at the plate early in the season, Tatis Jr. has settled in.<\/p>\n He has appeared in 110 games this season, making a missed game a rare occurrence. Tatis Jr. is batting .283 with eight home runs, 49 RBIs, and 26 stolen bases while slugging .399 with a .753 OPS.<\/p>\n Padres Right Now<\/p>\n San Diego is currently 57-54, which keeps them firmly in the National League Wild Card race.<\/p>\n While they sit 12.0 games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>, the Padres are only 1.0 game out of a postseason spot.<\/p>\n With the trade deadline set for Monday at 6 p.m. ET, many believe San Diego could take a balanced approach as both buyers and sellers. However, given their position in the standings, they are more likely to operate as buyers.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tCole Sullivan<\/a> Cole Sullivan is a sports journalist for Heavy.com covering the NFL, NBA, college football, and college basketball. A member of the United States Basketball Writers Association, he has written for FanSided, Athlon Sports, The Sporting News, and Newsweek. Sullivan earned an Associate degree from Franklin Pierce University and a Bachelor’s degree from Lynn University, where he studied Communications and Media Studies with a focus on Sports Journalism. More about Cole Sullivan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 23: Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 of the San Diego Padres is congratulated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-422301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
J. Cronenworth 2B
M. Machado DH
T. France 1B
J. Merrill CF
L. Campusano C
G. Sheets RF
X. Bogaerts SS
S. Song 3B<\/p>\n