Everything was going wrong for the Padres offense. It took one walk and one swing to make things feel all better again.
San Diego had scored three runs or less in 10 of their last 12 games and Sunday's outing in New York was looking like another stinker.
Then Fernando Tatis Jr. put on his cape again.
Tatis detonated a grand slam, the 3rd of his young career, to spark the Padres to a cathartic 7-3 win over the Mets and avoid a sweep at Citi Field.
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Tommy Pham got the scoring started with a leadoff home run off former Friar lefty Joey Lucchesi. The nice start didn't last. After that swing the Padres struggled for another six innings.
Chris Paddack gets a big tip of the cap for keeping the Padres in it long enough for Tatis to play the hero. Paddack tossed 6.0 innings of 2-run ball and struck out nine Mets hitters in his most dominant outing of the season. Paddack relied heavily on his fastball, which had the kind of life on it we saw during his successful rookie season.
The Sheriff was consistently in the upper-90's at the top of the strike zone and that's when he's most effective. The only runs he allowed came on a 2-run homer by Jose Peraza that put the Mets on top 2-1 in the 5th inning. At the time it felt like that would be enough for him to take another tough-luck loss.
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In the 7th inning the Padres finally broke through. New York reliever Jeurys Familia walked Eric Hosmer and gave up a pinch-hit single to Jake Cronenworth. Catcher Webster Rivas bunted the runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out and manager Jayce Tingler sent Trent Grisham in to pinch-hit.
Grisham, who just came off the Injured List this weekend, struck out and the Friars were on their way to another squandered opportunity.
Jurickson Profar worked a tough walk to load the bases then Pham got a gift. Familia walked him on four pitches to bring in the tying run and bring Tatis Jr. to the plate.
That is not the man you want to see up with the bases loaded.
Mets skipper Luis Rojas brought in Jacob Barnes to face Tatis. On a 1-1 pitch Barnes let a cutter get a little too much of the plate and El Nino smoked it 444 feet into the left field seats, giving the Friar Faithful a huge exhale.
For good measure, Manny Machado followed with a solo homer to cap the scoring the Friars.
It was a welcome (and needed) day for the Padres bats and they're going to a place where they can keep that going. The Friars open a 3-game series against the Rockies at Coors Field with Dinelson Lamet on the mound against Austin Gomber.
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