SAN DIEGO -- The Padres kept pace in the National League Wild Card race with a 4-3 victory over the Yankees on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park.
They opened the game with back-to-back-to-back home runs for just the second time in franchise history, then got six scoreless innings from Michael King. With the series victory, San Diego remained half a game back of the Diamondbacks in the race for the final playoff spot in the National League.
“It was a good weekend,” said Manny Machado, who hit the last of those three straight homers. “It was postseason baseball -- just kind of getting ready for the rest of the year and what to expect.”
Here’s some reaction from Petco Park:
Power surge from the start
Not only did the Padres begin the game with three straight home runs -- just the 12th time any team has done so in MLB history. They did it against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (who is now the only pitcher to have allowed three straight homers to start a game twice).
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth hit a pair of opposite-field home runs against Cole to start the game. Then, Machado launched a no-doubter to straightaway center.
“I think the most impressive was: We hit an oppo homer to right field. We hit one [oppo] to left. And then we hit one to center,” Machado said. “Against, again, one of the best pitchers in the game, you don't really see that.”
The Padres almost made it four, but Ty France flied out to the warning track for the first out against Cole.
Still, Tatis, Cronenworth and Machado joined Marvell Wynne, Tony Gwynn and John Kruk as Padres’ trios to begin a game with three consecutive home runs. Wynne, Gwynn and Kruk did so on April 13, 1987, marking the first time in MLB history the feat had been achieved.
“That was really fun, especially against the quality of starter that we were facing today,” Tatis said. “That was the kind of push we needed as an offense.”
Luis Campusano tacked on a solo home run in the seventh. The last time the Padres won a game with four runs on four solo homers was also the last time they hit back-to-back-to-back homers -- on Sept. 18, 2024, against Houston.
He’s the King
The last time Cole allowed three straight homers to start a game, the Yankees came back to win in Minnesota on June 9, 2022. Pitching a scoreless eighth inning for New York that day? King.
King has always been quick to credit Cole as his mentor. When King was traded to the Padres in 2023, he transitioned to a full-time starting role, and he used Cole as his reference point. He wanted to be an ace.
A few years later, that’s exactly what King is. He’s been the most reliable presence in a shaky and injury-riddled Padres rotation all season long. Now, it’s crunch time -- and King is riding a 21 2/3-inning scoreless streak after his six innings of four-hit ball on Sunday.
“What he’s done here this last month of baseball: Every time he goes out on the mound, he’s put us on his back,” said manager Craig Stammen. “That’s what an ace is.”
And the Yankees let him get away! OK, maybe it’s not that simple. They got Juan Soto and won an American League pennant. But King was the centerpiece of that trade, and the Yankees were clearly loath to part with him, understanding just how valuable he might be as a starter.
They saw it firsthand on Sunday.
“Today, it had to be business,” King said. “... It feels good to beat any team. Going into it, it was just, ‘Give the team a chance to win.’ It wasn’t a revenge game.”
He got a little of it anyway.
Don’t run on Campusano
What a weekend for Campusano. On Friday, he became the first player in more than 65 years to throw out three basestealers, then hit a walk-off home run.
The Yankees, evidently, did not learn their lesson.
New York climbed back into the game with a three-run eighth inning against Adrian Morejon. With one out, José Caballero pinch-ran as the potential tying run at first base, and he took off on the second pitch.
Campusano nailed him -- marking the fourth Yankees basestealer he’d thrown out in four attempts this weekend.
“He had a great series -- offensively and defensively,” Stammen said. “His maturation as a catcher keeps getting better and better and better. The best is yet to come for Campy.”