Padres ride ANOTHER dramatic comeback to victory in Mexico City Series opener

MEXICO CITY -- The Padres brought their winning ways to Mexico City -- their come-from-behind winning ways, to be more precise.

In Saturday’s Mexico City Series opener, San Diego rallied from an early four-run deficit for a dramatic 6-4 victory over the D-backs at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú.

The Padres got two homers from Ty France and rallied late, grabbing the lead with a four-run seventh. Then, they turned it over to their lights-out bullpen -- and Mason Miller made a bit of franchise history with his now-record 34 2/3-inning scoreless streak.

Winners of six straight series, the Padres now own the best record in baseball (18-8) -- by percentage points over the Braves. And they’ve rarely done it the easy way.

More comeback magic

The Padres entered the day leading the Majors with four victories in games they trailed by at least four runs. Only one other team (the Orioles) even had three.

They did it again.

“So far this season, we’ve been able to come back,” said manager Craig Stammen. “I think once you feel that early in the season, that becomes a little bit of your identity and who you are.

“So far, that’s been who we are.”

With five comebacks of at least four runs, the Padres are one away from tying the all-time record for a single month. Only the 1930 New York Giants had more. They’re the first team with five such comebacks in an individual month since the Angels in July 2009.

“The biggest thing is the belief,” said Gavin Sheets. “There’s just a no-quit belief.”

It was Sheets who cut the deficit to one with a two-run single (to some raucous “Holy Sheets” chants from the Mexico City fans). From there, the Padres benefitted from a Geraldo Perdomo error on what could’ve been a double-play ball.

They would later capitalize with a pair of sacrifice flies. Freddy Fermin’s tied the game, and Ramón Laureano’s gave the Padres their first lead.

France in Mexico

Viva la Mexico. Vive Ty France.

With his multihomer game on Saturday night, France put himself on quite a list. The Padres have made five trips to Mexico in their history. Only two prior hitters had recorded multiple home runs in the same game: Ken Caminiti and Manny Machado.

Those are two of the most memorable regular-season games in Padres history -- Caminiti’s folkloric “Snickers Game” when he was famously ill and only able to get down a couple Snickers bars before homering twice. Machado, meanwhile, did so in the wild 16-11 victory over the Giants in the first game ever at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú.

Add France to the list.

“It’s special,” France said. “Two big names in Padres history.”

The bullpen formula

Handed a late lead, Stammen went with the formula that’s worked for him all along. Adrian Morejon covered the seventh. Jason Adam pitched a scoreless eighth. Enter the Reaper.

Miller worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning, giving him 34 2/3 scoreless frames -- the franchise record.

“Big load off, for sure -- I think we can stop talking about it now,” Miller said with a wry smile. “Just keep pitching, see how long we can go.”

Miller won’t be so lucky. He now sits eighth on the list of longest scoreless streaks for any reliever since at least 1961 (6 1/3 innings shy of Gregg Olson’s record). If he keeps this up, we’ll be talking an awful lot (more) about his dominance.

A festive atmosphere

Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú brought it.

From Rey Mysterio’s first pitch, to the Mexico national anthem sung throughout the stadium, to the mariachi seventh inning stretch -- the fans in Mexico City were loud throughout. And it was clear who the majority of those fans were supporting.

“Petco south,” said Stammen.

“We definitely feed off that,” added Sheets.

They certainly seemed to feed off it during the four-run seventh-inning rally. The ballpark was festive as ever -- not unlike the Padres’ first trip to Mexico City in 2023, which also featured a late rally.

“It tells you a lot about our organization, about our fans in San Diego, man,” said Machado. “It was awesome. It felt like we were at home playing out there.”

Márquez holds serve

Germán Márquez allowed four runs with two outs during a furious D-backs second-inning rally. But what he was able to do after that not only changed the game, but might have changed the series as well.

Márquez settled in to work six innings, allowing only those four runs and keeping the game within reach. At the time, it looked like he was merely doing his part to save the Padres’ bullpen. Until the Padres rallied -- and suddenly Márquez was in line for the win.

“He pitched great in a tough environment,” Stammen said. “He settled in. Mentally, that’s just toughness right there.”

The Padres had the lead they wanted, with the back end of their bullpen lined up. They’ve made a habit of comebacks this season -- but they don’t often afford their opponents that same luxury.