SAN DIEGO -- Two weeks ago, as the Padres readied to leave Petco Park following a disappointing first homestand, new manager Craig Stammen made a vow.
“We’re going to play better here at Petco,” Stammen said. “This was probably an outlier.”
Sure enough…
The Padres are now the hottest team in baseball, winners of eight straight and 12 of 14. Their second homestand was a whole lot better than the first -- a perfect 7-0, culminating with a 5-2 victory over the Mariners on Thursday night.
Here’s some instant reaction:
No power, no problem for Tatis
Fernando Tatis Jr. still hasn’t homered. It is, by far, Tatis’ longest home-run drought to start a season.
But lately, he’s been contributing in just about every other way.
On Thursday, Tatis reached base three times, including a two-run single that capped a four-run Padres second inning. Over the course of the homestand, he reached at a .429 clip.
And that’s not to mention Tatis’ characteristically stellar defense. He made an excellent sliding catch to rob Luke Raley of a hit to end the top of the second inning.
The homers will come. (And probably soon, considering how hard Tatis is hitting the ball.) But Tatis remains impactful in nearly every other way.
Another encouraging outing from Buehler
When the Padres signed Walker Buehler to a Minor League deal at the start of Spring Training, they probably didn’t envision him as their No. 3 starter. In effect, that’s what Buehler has become.
Nick Pivetta landed on the injured list earlier this week with right elbow inflammation. He joins Joe Musgrove and Griffin Canning there (with Yu Darvish already out for the season). There are serious injury and depth concerns in the San Diego rotation right now.
Which makes Buehler’s recent performance so pivotal. He pitched six scoreless innings in his last time out. On Tuesday, he worked five scoreless frames, before Stammen sent him back out for a sixth. Buehler didn’t record an out in the frame and was charged with a couple runs.
But it was an encouraging performance nonetheless. Buehler’s fastball is not what it was when he was regularly blowing it past hitters half a decade ago. He seems intent on throwing the hard stuff, nonetheless -- using 20 cutters and 20 four-seamers on Thursday night, to great success.
Bullpen blueprint
For the second time in three nights, the Padres won with this tried-and-true formula: Their starter pitched into the sixth, before Adrian Morejon, Jason Adam and Mason Miller nailed it down.
Things got a little dicey in the sixth. Before going to Morejon, Stammen went to Bradgley Rodriguez, who allowed an RBI single to Julio Rodríguez and walked Randy Arozarena to load the bases. But Morejon, who’d started the season slowly, escaped the jam by punching out Connor Joe, then getting J.P. Crawford to bounce harmlessly to second.
“It feels like I’m back,” Morejon said a couple days ago, and he sure looks it.
He would pitch a perfect seventh as well, before Adam’s scoreless eighth and Miller striking out the side in the ninth, extending his scoreless streak to 30 2/3 innings. That 76.7% strikeout rate is the highest by a pitcher in his first nine appearances of a season in the last 120 years.