TORONTO -- This will likely be remembered as the Gavin Sheets game.
Sheets entered Thursday afternoon as one of the Padres’ most unlikely but productive complementary hitters, and he continued that trend -- albeit in a losing effort, as the club fell to the Blue Jays, 7-6, in 11 innings in the series finale at Rogers Centre. San Diego has now been swept in consecutive series, first by Seattle and now by Toronto, dropping six straight.
Still, a performance like this reminded the 29-year-old Sheets why he decided to join the Padres on a one-year deal over the offseason: to lengthen a lineup loaded with superstars like Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill.
“That's what I came here to do,” Sheets said after serving as one of the team’s lone bright spots in Thursday’s finale. “That was kind of my game plan the whole time, coming to a team like this that has their stars in a great lineup and try to deepen as much as possible.”
The damage started in the second inning for Sheets, who blasted his first of two home runs in the game -- his third career multihomer performance and first since Aug. 30, 2022 -- for a two-run shot. Then, in his fourth at-bat, the left-handed-hitting utility player hit another two-run bomb, this time off Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman in the ninth inning to tie the score at four runs apiece.
After reliever Jason Adam ushered in extra innings with a clean bottom of the ninth, Luis Arraez came through with a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 10th to push automatic runner Jose Iglesias across. Padres closer Robert Suarez immediately erased the lead in the bottom half, though, allowing a run off Jonatan Clase’s leadoff single, but he stopped the bleeding from there.
Nevertheless, Suarez has seen his dominant start to 2025 come to a screeching halt lately, as he’s now been charged with a pair of blown saves in two of his past three outings.
Sheets struck again in the 11th, driving in Manny Machado from third base with a single into center for his fifth RBI of the contest. The hit came versus a left-hander, against which Sheets had been struggling to the tune of a .227/.261/.273 slash line entering the day, and one of the toughest lefty relievers at that in Brendon Little.
“He's definitely a presence in the lineup,” manager Mike Shildt said of Sheets. “He’s been able to go out and get big swings, a couple homers today, swing off the left. He's been able to stay in [with] all lefties. Just a really good makeup guy who’s able to help us win ball games in all different ways.”
Following such a performance, Sheets is now hitting .286/.333/.497 with eight home runs -- the second most on the team behind Fernando Tatis Jr. (12) -- and a team-leading 28 RBIs across 45 games for San Diego. He signed a one-year contract worth $1.6 million over the offseason following four seasons with the White Sox -- a signing already proving to be incredibly valuable.
“I've wanted to be an everyday guy my entire career, that's always my goal,” Sheets said.
Amid the Padres’ recent offensive woes, which saw them shut out over the first two games in Toronto and go 2-for-20 with runners in scoring position during the series, the club will need more performances like Sheets’ as it hopes to snap its winless drought in Atlanta this weekend.
“I really am confident that this is going to only make us stronger,” said Shildt. “There is no question about that. It will make us stronger. You know it doesn't feel great right now. Very soon, it'll be a distant memory as we continue to get back to playing on the left-hand side of the win column.”