Good morning from New York,
That is not how that game normally ends.
No. Games that were going like last night’s game was going for the Padres almost always just fizzle to a conclusion.
When Fernando Tatis Jr. struck out in the eighth inning — leaving four outs to go in a game in which to that point the Padres had done virtually nothing — StatCast pegged the Yankees’ win probability at 94.5%.
But normal is not how the Padres roll.
“Yeah, it’s different,” Manny Machado said as he walked from the clubhouse late last night. “We’ve been doing a lot of things different this year. And, you know, this is definitely building some character for this team, and we’re going to continue to build off of it.”
The way they play — not their manager getting ejected — is why the Padres won last night.
You can read (here) in my game story from last night’s 4-3 victory over the Yankees about how the Padres players said they were fired up after Tatis and Mike Shildt were ejected in the eighth inning and how four runs immediately followed those ejections.
The story also details the herky jerky night that featured a pair of 28-minute rain delays and not a whole lot of anything by the Padres before the eighth inning.
It is fun to talk about the potential effect of Shildt’s fiery argument with home plate umpire Adrian Johnson after Johnson ejected Tatis.
And Padres players seemed legitimately impressed and fired up by Shildt’s outrage.
Said Xander Bogaerts: “Shildty came down the tunnel, and he was still chirping. I think he was ready to fight. He was ready. He kept going.”
Said Luis Arraez: “I love Mike Shildt. He s his players.”
Said Tatis: “Mike always has our back, and he shows us every night in every way possible. And I love that from a manager. I love playing for that guy.”
But Tyler Wade was already on second base when Shildt was tossed. Brandon Lockridge had already singled and was standing on first base.
Arraez’s walk and Machado’s two-run double and Boagerts’ two-run single that followed were products of the kind of preparation the Padres have been talking about and demonstrating for months, not some infusion of momentary emotion.
“The response was evident on the scoreboard in the eighth,” Shildt said. “But the response, for me, is every night with this group. This group loves to compete and play baseball together. And regardless of circumstances, they’re going to show up and they’re going to post.”
There were no ejections in the other three games the Padres won after trailing in the final three innings. No ejections in any of their nine comebacks. No ejections in any of the six games in which they lost a lead and then regained it and won.
There had been no ejections of Padres players or Shildt at all this season. And yet here the Padres are 12 games above .500, with the second-best record (23-11) in the major leagues and tied with the 1998 club for the best start in franchise history.
The difference Machado mentioned is in how they play, which is about as consistently relentless as a team can be. It is the same virtually every day. It doesn’t always work out. But it does more often for the Padres under Shildt.
This is a continuation of what they did in 2024 en route to 93 wins, the second most in franchise history. That means it is not an aberration, even if it is different than what usually happens on most nights in the major leagues.
“They all are equal in the (win) column,” Shildt said. “This one has, you know, even another like, even deeper entrenchment of who we are and how we compete. It’s just the fabric of this club, the grit squad. It’s a reinforcement of playing the game all the time the right way and good things will happen over the course of that. It’s clearly a nice, big win.”
Priorities
Shildt tossed his lineup cards, a pen and his spectacles on his way to meet Johnson.
“My glasses made it,” he said. “I did have my head about me to make sure … (they) stayed in the grass. I didn’t want them scratched. I like these glasses a lot.”
He also made good time back to his office in the clubhouse, getting there in time see Arraez’s walk.
Mike Shildt let this ump HAVE IT after Fernando Tatis Jr. got tossed pic.twitter.com/Y6NElDU9
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) May 6, 2025
Tatis’ beef
According to the strike zone box on MLB.com, the pitch Johnson called strike two against Tatis in the eighth inning nicked the bottom of the zone.
But Johnson was horribly inconsistent last night on pitches in that locstion. Of the 14 pitches that were, according to the box on MLB.com, inside the lower edge of the strike zone, Johnson called 10 of them balls. That included a handful that seemed to be higher than the one called a strike on Tatis.
Further, Tatis has had a rough week with pitches in that vicinity.
On Saturday, he had a pitch below the zone called a strike as part of a strikeout. On Tuesday, he had strike one and strike 3 called on pitches low and/or away outside the zone.
“I think I’ve been seeing the ball really well,” Tatis said. “So I think I have an idea when it’s a ball and a strike. We have not been on the same page for the last couple games, but we’ve got to deal with it. So I’m probably going to have to swing out of it.”
Finally
Lockridge was drafted by the Yankees in the fifth round of the 2018 draft but never made it to Yankee Stadium before being traded to the Padres last July for reliever Enyel De Los Santos.
“Pretty cool experience,” Lockridge said. “I really liked the ending.”
The difference
The Padres prevented a run in the first inning with a heads-up rebound by Bogaerts and nice play on the back end by catcher Elias Díaz.
With Aaron Judge on first base, Ben Rice hit a double down the right field line. Tatis ran over and fired a throw into second base, and as Bogaerts swiped a tag just late on Rice, the ball popped into the air. That prompted Judge, who had slowed rounding third base, to take off for home. Bogaerts barehanded the ball after it bounced on the ground behind him and threw home. Díaz caught the ball in the right-handed batter’s box, lunged toward the plate and tagged out a sliding Judge.
“I just got the ball and threw it,” Bogaerts said. “I threw it as hard as I could. Once I let it go, I didn’t think it was going to be out. But great tag there by Díaz.”
Tidbits
- So, Jackson Merrill did re the Padres yesterday, but he will not be activated off the injured list until today. You can read in our game preview (here) about what happened.
- Rookie Ryan Bergert made his third career appearance last night, pitching a scoreless seventh inning. When the Padres took the lead in the eighth and then held on, Bergert had his first major league win.
- Padres relievers have not allowed a run in the past three games (11⅔ innings) after allowing at least one run in the five games before that. The Padres bullpen’s 1.68 ERA is best in the majors. The Giants’ bullpen (2.51) ranks second.
- A week ago, Bogaerts had five RBIs for the season, none of them in the previous 16 games. In the six games since, he has driven in eight runs. Last night was his third multi-RBI game in that stretch.
- Bogaerts has raised his batting average 15 points (to .254) by going 8-for-26 over the past seven games.
- Machado extended his hitting streak to six games, during which he is batting .391 (9-for-23) with three walks.
- Tatis has gone hitless in consecutive games (0-for-9) for the first time this season.
- A single by Díaz extended the combined hitting streak that he and fellow catcher Martín Maldonado have put together to six games. Díaz is 7-for-16 with two home runs in that stretch while Maldonado is 2-for-7.
- A victory today would give the Padres their second seven-game winning streak of 2025. The Padres have had two winning streaks of at least seven games in a single season just five times in the franchise’s 57-year history.
- Rain has affected three of the four games on this trip. The Padres have sat through four delays totalling three hours, 50 minutes. And, well …
All right, that’s it for me.
Talk to you tomorrow.
