Over the past 50 games, things have turned around for Padres outfielder Tommy Pham. He’s been able to get comfortable in the batter’s box, contributing regularly to offensive efforts. In Friday’s 5-2 win over the Marlins at loanDepot Park, his first-inning home run got things started for San Diego.

The first pitch Pham saw was a four-seam fastball down the middle of the plate, and he took advantage. He smacked a liner 105.7 mph off his bat over the right-center-field wall to put San Diego ahead early, 1-0.

“He's always ready to hit. He doesn’t take pitches off,” said manager Jayce Tingler. “He got something out over the plate, and it's really good when you see him start to drive the ball to that direction to right-center field. … I think that swing there kind of sparked us a little bit. Jake [Cronenworth] comes up, follows it with the triple. Then Manny [Machado] hits a hard ball and gets the run and so it's nice to get some runs early.”

The first-pitch home run was the first for Pham, who has 11 homers on the year, since Sept. 27, 2019.

Dating back to May 26, Pham’s batting average on fastballs increased from a mere .143 over the first 46 games of the season to .390 entering Friday’s matchup with the Marlins.

Other offensive stats have likewise improved for the Padres’ left fielder, including his on-base plus slugging -- which may be the most significant indicator of a switch in Pham’s approach. He has been able to get on base much more, while hitting for more power. His OPS through the last 49 games is .947, up from .611 on May 25.

In his four other plate appearances on Friday, Pham made hard contact. His two groundouts had an exit velocity of 94.2 and 96.4 mph, and a 103.4 mph lineout was nearly a base hit in the fifth inning. He smacked an inning-ending flyout in the top of the ninth with a 96.3 mph exit velocity, just 20 feet shy of his home run to the same area of the park.

“Even his last [at-bat], probably hit it about 395 feet, but he got a tick off the end,” Tingler said. “A lot of really good signs.”

Tingler has stressed to his team that the key to winning is not overthinking or trying to do too much. It’s the same message Pham has been telling himself at the plate, changing his output in the latter half of the season.

“Runs can sometimes be hard to come by,” Tingler said. “We just keep playing, keep pitching, keep playing defense and keep having quality at-bats and try to keep it as simple as possible.”

Padres starter Joe Musgrove, who allowed two runs over six innings and earned his sixth win, helped his team not only on the mound, but also at the plate. He smacked his first double since Sept. 19, 2019, in the top of the second inning, eventually scoring on Trent Grisham’s single.

“Really just trying to do anything I can do to get on base or even get in scoring position,” said Musgrove. “I was laughing with the guys, too. I told them, ‘You know, you're sucking at the plate when they start shifting you the opposite way and pushing you over towards the first-base side.’ So, I was able to sneak on down the line and get into second. Grisham had a great at-bat that allowed me to get in that extra run, which really was important throughout the whole night.”