August 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\nHe had turned a one-run deficit into a two-run lead in the fourth inning, and the Padres would only build from there in what became a 7-2 victory over the Astros on Sunday night.<\/p>\n
The Padres also got a home run from Jackson Merrill before Tatis\u2019 blast and one apiece from Gavin Sheets and the newly signed Austin Hays afterward.<\/p>\n
The Astros got their own home run, which gave them a 2-0 lead in the second inning. And then they were finished. They did not reach base after that, as Padres pitchers retired the final 22 batters they faced.<\/p>\n
Randy V\u00e1squez set down the first 10 of those to get through the fifth, and three relievers kept up the perfect run to the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a pretty good game for us,\u201d Padres manager Craig Stammen said. \u201cWe\u2019ve played a lot of games here lately that resembled that. That was probably the best version of that. \u2026 Hopefully, it carries on as we keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
The victory kept the Padres a game behind the Diamondbacks and Phillies in the race for one of the final two National League wild-card spots.<\/p>\n
So this is a good time for Tatis to be hitting like he is.<\/p>\n
What he provided in the fourth inning was the kind of moment he used to provide so routinely that bathroom breaks and food runs were planned around his at-bats.<\/p>\n
It was the kind of moment that had been lacking in 2026 and, really, for much of the past four seasons.<\/p>\n
But after going 55 games without a home run at the start of this season and hitting just four more over his next 40 games, Tatis has homered in six of his past 21 games.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s homer was his third in five games.<\/p>\n
He also doubled in the sixth inning and has six doubles and a triple to go along with the six homers in the 21 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, I feel really good,\u201d Tatis said. \u201c\u2026 Right on time for what we\u2019re aiming for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The home run was the 163rd of Tatis\u2019 career, which tied him with Nate Colbert for the second most ever hit by a Padres player. Manny Machado passed Colbert in 2024 and now sits at 217.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes our team to another level when he can kind of put us on his back and be like, \u2018Hey, I got you guys,\u2019\u201d Stammen said of Tatis being on a tear. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve just seen it in his eye here lately that he\u2019s got that feeling that he can do it and that he wants to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every run Sunday came via a home run.<\/p>\n
V\u00e1squez did not have the superlative command he did five days earlier, when he shut out the Diamondbacks over six innings in his first real start in more than a month.<\/p>\n
He hardly paid for it, and he was at times as sharp as ever.<\/p>\n
His only real mistake was a sweeper left up to Varsho, which followed a one-out single by Taylor Trammell in the second.<\/p>\n
Merrill got one of those runs back when he led off the bottom of the second by sending a fastball at the tiptop of the strike zone over the wall in left-center. Sheets greeted Astros reliever AJ Blubaugh by ending a home run drought at 31 games.<\/p>\n
By then, the Astros were finished hitting.<\/p>\n
Kyle Hart worked the sixth, Bradgley Rodriguez the seventh and eighth and Jeremiah Estrada the ninth.<\/p>\n
The Padres were not going to use Adrian Morej\u00f3n and were trying to get through without using Mason Miller due to recent workload, which made going to Hart in the sixth a bold move. Rodriguez getting through two innings allowed them to save Estrada. And Hays\u2019 two-run homer pinch-hitting for Sheets made for the final margin and allowed Miller to stop warming up.<\/p>\n
\u201cKyle Hart \u2026 is definitely someone we can rely on right now,\u201d Stammen said. \u201cAnd Bradgley, he\u2019s turned into one of the best relievers in all of baseball. \u2026 And then Estrada, getting him back from the IL, he\u2019s a huge addition to our team. To be able to put somebody like that in the ninth inning without Mason Miller and feel pretty comfortable that we\u2019re going to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hart threw seven pitches. Rodriguez needed just 17 to get through two innings. Estrada added 12 at the end. The 98 pitches the Padres threw were their fewest in a game since they needed 94 to get through a 7-5 victory over the Reds on June 30, 2021.<\/p>\n
Tatis seemed to have spurred at least the start of that run of efficiency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Fernando hit that home run, I was so excited to get back on the mound,\u201d V\u00e1squez said. \u201cI knew I had to get through that fifth inning and put us in position to win this game.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t