Fernando Tatis Jr. hit another mammoth home run.
Since the Padres already have their playoff positioning set, that's really the most important thing that came out of Saturday night's 6-2 win in San Francisco.
Tatis launched a breaking ball from Johnny Cueto deep into the left field seats for his 17th homer of the season and, more importantly, his 2nd in two games as the electric 21-year-old shortstop seems to have worked out whatever offensive kinks were bugging him for much of September.
San Diego went about the game like it was a Cactus League affair, just trying to keep the guys sharp and healthy before the National League Wild Card series starts on Wednesday night at Petco Park (by the way, manager Jayce Tingler said Dinelson Lamet felt good after leaving Friday night's game with biceps tightness and the club is optimistic he'll be able to pitch Game 1 or Game 2).
Zach Davies more than earned a spot in the post-season starting rotation. Davies threw 3.0 shutout innings with three strikeouts before being removed. Nothing is wrong with him, this was just a way for Zach to stay sharp before the post-season starts.
The Friars scored three runs in the 4th inning against Cueto. After Tatis smoked a ball off the National Car Rental tarp, Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer singled. Machado scored on a single by Mitch Moreland and Hosmer came home on a sacrifice fly from Austin Nola.
After Davies it was Craig Stammen throwing 2.0 shutout innings and Garrett Richards going 2.0 more. Along the way Tatis and Machado were removed from the game, replaced by Jorge Mateo and Greg Garcia. In the 8th inning Tim Hill got into some trouble, giving up two runs before Dan Altavilla came on to finish the inning.
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San Diego put it away in the top of the 9th with a pair of big blasts from guys who've been struggling a bit of late. Tommy Pham hit a 2-run laser over the left field wall to make it 5-2. On the very next pitch Mitch Moreland hammered a home run to the deepest part of the park.
Sunday will be the 60th and final game of the season. For the first time in a decade and a half, it will not be the last game the Padres play.
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