Merrill magic strikes twice! Fresh off HR robbery, young star caps wild rally with walk-off
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SAN DIEGO -- The Padres insist they should never be counted out of any game, and after a homestand like this one, it’s hard not to believe them.
Down six runs after five innings -- down four runs when Mariners right fielder Luke Raley corralled the second out of the ninth -- San Diego rallied for a wild 7-6 victory on Wednesday night at a frenzied Petco Park.
Jackson Merrill played the role of superman in the third inning and walk-off hero in the ninth, as the Padres extended their winning streak to seven games -- three of them via walk-off.
Merrill -- who robbed Julio Rodríguez of a home run earlier in the night -- capped a ferocious five-run, ninth-inning rally with a two-run double into the left-field corner, plating the tying and winning runs.
“That,” Merrill said, “is what a good team does. They don’t give up until the very last out.”
It marked the first time the Padres have rallied to win a game in which they trailed by four runs in the ninth inning since a memorable comeback at Coors Field on June 14, 2019. But even that game went extras. They hadn’t rallied to win a game in the ninth inning in which they trailed by at least four runs since 2017.
“We try to tell the guys every day, it’s not ‘if’ we’re going to win, but it’s: ‘Who’s going to be the hero?’” said manager Craig Stammen. “Tonight, it was Jackson.”
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On Thursday, it was Xander Bogaerts. On Friday, it was Gavin Sheets. The Padres started their season 1-4. But they’ve been the hottest team in baseball since, winners of seven straight and 10 of their last 11.
“There’s just this energy,” Sheets said. “We’re not out of it. We’re not laying over. Guys are bought in, and we’re having some fun.”
The rally started the way so many rallies like this one start -- with a leadoff walk. Manny Machado worked his way aboard against Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz. Sheets squibbed a double down the left-field line. Ty France bounced an infield hit over the mound.
“Just a never-say-die mentality,” Stammen said. “Manny took a great at-bat to lead it off. That’s how those kinds of innings start usually. … It got us at least believing that it might happen.”
With the tying run at the plate, Stammen called for Fernando Tatis Jr. -- who had been given the day off from the starting lineup -- as a pinch-hitter. But even after Tatis hit a sacrifice fly for the second out, the rally continued. Luis Campusano and Ramón Laureano singled, setting the stage for Merrill.
Muñoz’s night was done. The lefty-hitting Merrill was tasked with facing Mariners left-hander Jose A. Ferrer. Merrill got ahead 2-0, but was late on a pair of sinkers, fouling them into the seats down the third-base line. Ferrer’s 2-2 pitch was another sinker, dotted on the outside corner.
“The last one was a good pitch,” Merrill said. “I just kind of threw the barrel at it and prayed.”
It stayed fair. Just fair. Campusano scampered home with the tying run, and Laureano followed with the winning run, before Merrill was mobbed by his teammates around third base.
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And -- if we’re being honest -- it probably wasn’t even Merrill’s finest moment of the night.
Starter Randy Vásquez struggled for the first time this season, allowing four runs across four innings, as the Padres dug themselves an early hole. But Merrill took two runs off the board for Vásquez in the third.
Rodríguez -- himself no stranger to home run robberies, including a memorable one at the expense of the Padres -- hit a deep drive to straightaway center. Merrill backtracked, then leapt and stretched his glove arm well beyond the fence to make the catch.
He’s robbed homers before, including one during Opening Weekend against Tigers phenom Kevin McGonigle. But the degree of difficulty went up a notch on this one, given the higher wall in straightaway center and the angle at which Merrill had to contort his left arm.
“One hundred percent, that’s the best catch I’ve ever made,” Merrill said.
The Mariners, who led 2-0 at the time, tacked on two in the fourth and two more in the fifth, before Bogaerts’ 200th career homer cut the deficit to 6-2. The Padres’ bullpen held it in check from there. The Padres were alive, largely thanks to Merrill.
“Play of the game,” Stammen said. “That kept us in it.”
And six innings later, Merrill went on to win it.