Padres thrice come from behind, grab walk-off win over Rockies

SAN DIEGO -- There’s no column in the standings for style points. The National League Wild Card race is as tight as it’s been all season, with six teams in the mix for the final spot, all separated by two games.

The Padres are one of those teams. And with the Trade Deadline looming on Monday (3 p.m. PT), they’ll take wins however they can get ‘em.

The errors? The miscues on the bases? The ejections? Immaterial. The Padres rallied to beat the Rockies, 8-7, on Tuesday night, courtesy of Xander Bogaerts’ walk-off sacrifice fly.

That’s the important part. They added another in the win column -- their fourth straight, keeping them within 1 1/2 games of the final Wild Card spot. Here’s some instant reaction from Petco Park:

What to make of a wild win?

This was not a clean baseball game. On either side.

Ultimately, the Rockies were sloppier, committing four errors to the Padres’ one. But the Padres ran into outs on the bases, and three of their best pitchers turned in subpar innings that allowed Colorado to take the lead -- Michael King in the third, Bradgley Rodriguez in the seventh and Adrian Morejon in the eighth.

It was uncharacteristic, to say the least. The Padres have been playing high-quality baseball lately. This was … not that. And yet, they rallied from three different deficits to pick up a crucial win.

“It was fun and weird to watch at the same time,” said Fernando Tatis Jr., who recorded the first five-hit game of his career. “We got a W. That’s all that matters.”

The Padres trailed 4-2, then tied it. They trailed 6-4, then tied it. They trailed 7-6, then tied it. Then Bogaerts won it with his sacrifice fly in the ninth.

For every Rockies punch, the Padres had a counterpunch.

“It’s one thing that this team for sure has in it -- the fight,” said manager Craig Stammen, who was ejected alongside infield instructor Ryan Goins for arguing a ruling in which Bogaerts wasn’t awarded a challenge in the fourth inning.

A first for Fernando

The Padres pounded out 16 hits on Tuesday. Tatis had five of them -- all singles. It was the first five-hit game by any Padre since Jake Cronenworth in June 2024 and the first of Tatis’ career.

“Only took me eight years,” he joked.

If it wasn’t already clear: Tatis is back. He’s been back for a while, actually.

Even after his slow start to the season, Tatis is now reaching base at a .353 clip, and he’s swiped 25 bags as well. He’s been everything the Padres could’ve hoped for out of the leadoff spot, even if his power hasn’t quite come around.

“Whenever he’s going, our team usually plays well also,” Stammen said.

Redemption for Bogaerts

It sure was an eventful night for Bogaerts. He was at the center of controversy in the fourth, when plate umpire Jeremie Rehak did not grant his challenge on a pitch that appeared low. He proceeded to bounce into a forceout with the count 1-1, rather than 2-0.

Then, in the eighth, Bogaerts committed an error that loaded the bases before Morejon walked in the go-ahead run with two outs. The Padres would tie the game in the bottom of the inning (fittingly, also on an error). Then, Bogaerts came to the plate in the ninth with the bases loaded.

“Tough error right there,” Bogaerts said. “Sucked for the moment. But a nice way to finish, for sure.”

It was Bogaerts’ eighth career walk-off. His last three have all come against the Rockies, including a walk-off grand slam earlier this season.

King struggled early, but did what’s required of him

If the Padres are going to make their radical new approach to their starting rotation work, they’re going to need to rely on King.

They’re essentially rolling with King and Walker Buehler as their starters, then three days worth of bullpen games. They’ve loaded that bullpen with enough long-relief options that they should be able to cover the workload.

But they’re going to need length from King and Buehler -- especially King, who has been the rotation’s most reliable starter this season.

As such, King’s outing Tuesday was the bare minimum. He gave the Padres six innings, and he kept them in the game. (Since June 3, King is the only San Diego starter to work six innings in a game, and he’s now done so seven times.)

King was done in by a poor third inning in which he allowed four runs, including homers to Willi Castro and Mickey Moniak. But in the other five frames? Scoreless ball, and he looked mostly like himself. And, most importantly, he leaves the Padres’ bullpen in decent shape ahead of three looming bullpen games.