Padres starting to pile on homers, win fourth straight

After a slow start, the Padres’ offense is starting to mash. According to manager Craig Stammen, there’s not really any secret to it.

“We’ve got good players,” he said, coyly. “And they can hit homers.”

On Saturday night, it was Manny Machado and Ramón Laureano who went deep, as the Padres scored a season-high nine runs in their 9-5 victory over the Rockies at Petco Park. They’ve won eight of their past 10 games and have homered five times in the last two -- after hitting just eight home runs across the first two weeks.

Before San Diego goes for a four-game sweep on Sunday afternoon, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s slugfest:

The answer at leadoff?
The Padres entered play Saturday night with some of the worst production in baseball out of the top spot in their lineup. Their leadoff men had combined to post a .412 OPS through the first 14 games, the lowest mark in the Majors.

“We’re just trying to find someone that’s not going to fall into a slump when we put him in the leadoff spot,” Stammen joked, “which is kind of what’s happened so far this season.”

He might be onto something with Laureano.

Laureano reached base four times, including a pair of walks that contributed to rallies on Saturday night. He also hit the go-ahead three-run homer in the fourth inning that put the Padres in front for good.

Stammen always reserves the right to change his lineup on any given day -- and he’s certainly proven that he’s willing to do so. But for now, whenever Laureano is in the lineup, he seems like he’s entrenched himself at the top. Not that it matters all that much to Laureano where he hits.

“I don’t even look at it until I get to the ballpark,” he told Padres.TV. “I just play some ball with the guys, like I’m in Little League -- win some games.”

Shuffling it up
The big headline Saturday was Fernando Tatis Jr. making his first career start at second base, seemingly out of nowhere. But that decision was made in concert with a few of Stammen’s core managerial tenets:

He’s going to give his regulars days off. He’s going to move his pieces around. And he’s going to keep his bench involved.

That was the case again Saturday, as Xander Bogaerts got the night off -- which prompted Jake Cronenworth to slide to short and Tatis to move to second, allowing Nick Castellanos to start in right field (his most comfortable position).

“The biggest significance is everybody feels like they’re a part of the team and they’re contributing to our success,” Stammen said earlier this week. “There’s going to be a certain amount of main players that play a majority of the games. But a lot of times your success is determined by those … puzzle pieces.”

Even as Stammen has given time off to his regulars, the offense hasn’t missed a beat. That’s the goal.

Adam nails it down
No, the Padres didn’t want to use Jason Adam for a second straight night. They’d only activated him from the injured list a day earlier. But Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon were almost certainly unavailable, and the Rockies loaded the bases in the ninth inning, bringing the tying run to the plate with two outs.

Stammen didn’t have much of a choice. He called for Adam, who promptly got Ezequiel Tovar to pop to second baseman Tatis Jr. (yes, still weird to type that) to end the game.

Adam’s return couldn’t have come at a much better time for the Padres, with Jeremiah Estrada landing on the IL. Adam didn’t allow a run in either of his two Cactus League games or in any of his four rehab appearances.

He’s now made a pair of scoreless appearances in the big leagues as well.

Adam’s save on Saturday nailed down a meaningful victory for Germán Márquez, who had spent 10 seasons with the Rockies before signing with the Padres during the offseason. Márquez was hit hard early, but he made it through five innings, and the bats did the rest.

“Got us through five and got the W,” Stammen said. “That’s what we’re looking for out of our No. 5 starter. He did it tonight.”