Padres rookie shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. had another monster game. Padres relief pitchers had another monster game, too.
The difference is Tatis had a monster game like when Godzilla decides to be a hero and save us from the bad monsters while the bullpen had a monster game like when Jason Voorhees is stalking you because your idiot friends decided to hang out by Crystal Lake and party.
Again.
However, the horror story had a happy ending thanks to a 1st baseman, a guy who moved to the outfield because of that 1st baseman, and a light-hitting catcher.
All that is a long-winded way of saying the Padres beat the Nationals 5-4 on Friday night at Petco Park to take the first two games of their 4-game weekend set.
Tatis was a beast. In the 1st inning the 20-year-old phenom singled, stole a base, and scored in an infield groundout by Manny Machado. In the 6th inning Tatis smacked a 2-run home run to centerfield to put the Friars on top 3-0. But the pitching staff gave it all back.
Starter Nick Margevicious was pulled in the 4th inning despite having allowed no runs. Miguel Diaz and Robbie Erlin combined to keep Washington scoreless through six innings but then Matt Wisler got beat up in the 7th, coughing up three runs on four hits.
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Adam Warren threw a scoreless 8th inning and was given a shot at the 9th. It didn't go as well. After a double and a sacrifice bunt Warren uncorked a wild pitch that let Brian Dozier score from 3rd and give the Nats a 4-3 lead.
But the Padres keep saying this year's team is resilient and they showed that again. Eric Hosmer ripped a 1-out triple to right field but when Franmil Reyes struck out it looked like he'd be stranded there. Rookie Josh Naylor, who learned how to play the outfield in nthe minor leagues because the Padres signed Hosmer, smoked a single up the middle to bring in Hosmer and the tyin run.
Naylor then took off to steal his first big league bag and get himself into scoring position for Austin Hedges.
Hedgy came up huge, lining a base hit to left field. Naylor scored with a dive to give the Padres a 5-4 win. It's the first walk-off hit of Hedges' big league career. San Diego improves to 33-31 and stays 1.5 games behind the Braves in the National League Wild Card race.
Yes, it's June but we can legitimately dream of the Padres being in playoff contention for a while.
Saturday night the Friars get a serious test when they send Eric Lauer to the mound against Washington ace Max Scherzer.
