WASHINGTON -- All he needed to do was to show bunt.
Fernando Tatis Jr. went 207 at-bats before hitting a 1-0 pitch from Nationals starter Foster Griffin for his first home run of the season in the Padres' 9-4 loss on Saturday afternoon. Tatis faked a bunt on the first offering, then drilled the ball a Statcast-projected 451 feet to deep left field on a gusty day at Nationals Park.
“I just knew right away,” Tatis said. “About [expletive] time.”
Tatis’ 55 homerless games to start the season are the second-most ever by a player who had previously hit 40-plus home runs in a season, behind only Carl Yastrzemski's 57-game drought in 1972.
Tatis had hit 152 home runs in 2,808 career at-bats before Saturday’s game; around one in every 18.5 at-bats. At that rate, his expected 2026 total would be 11.
The Padres’ leadoff hitter had been trending in the right direction: He hit .480 in his past seven games entering Saturday. Tatis' home run was also his longest since Sept. 30, 2021, when he crushed a 467-foot blast.
“He’s been carrying that burden, the team has been carrying that burden,” said manager Craig Stammen, who was ejected in the seventh inning. “He finally got it. It was a good celebration in the dugout. It’s what baseball is all about, acting like little 10-year-olds.”
San Diego is seven games over .500 despite Tatis’ power outage. He’s far from the only Padres anchor struggling. Manny Machado has a .632 OPS and center fielder Jackson Merrill has a .601 OPS.
“I bet he will sleep a little better tonight knowing he has a one,” Xander Bogaerts said. “He has a lot in his career, but it’s different. Him, everyone -- his family, baseball people -- know what the deal is for him. Everyone knows he has zero. So, I think getting that kind of pressure off his back is nice.”