Fernando Tatis Jr.'s walk-off homer saves Padres after another bullpen blow-up

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on May 14, 2025

Published in Baseball

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The Padres keep professing faith in their bullpen.

“Why wouldn’t I have the confidence?” manager Mike Shildt said Tuesday afternoon. “I mean, everybody gets a little bit of grace, right? … I mean, track record gives you confidence.”

A few hours later, another Padres reliever continued the bullpen’s ride off the rails.

But the Padres also kept fighting, running the bases astutely, making crucial plays in the field and capitalizing on mistakes.

Their second comeback of the night was completed by Fernando Tatis Jr.’s two-run walk-off home run, which gave the Padres a 6-4 victory over the Angels.

For the first 34 games of this season — the track record Shildt and others are still clinging to — the Padres bullpen did not allow a lead to be lost. It led the major leagues in ERA and batting average allowed.

Now, after it happened for a second straight night on Tuesday, Padres relievers have squandered a lead in the seventh inning or later in four of the five games they have been given one to protect.

On Tuesday, Jeremiah Estrada entered the game with one on and two outs in the seventh inning and surrendered an RBI double to Jo Adell and two-run homer to Matthew Lugo in two pitches.

That turned a 2-1 lead into a 4-2 deficit.

But the Padres keep fighting too.

They got to 4-4 in the eighth on walks by Tatis and Manny Machado, a bloop single with two outs by Gavin Sheets and a wild pitch that allowed Machado to score.

Elias Diaz began the ninth with a walk, and Tatis followed with a 430-foot blast to left-center field.

Estrada’s outing followed by a little less than 24 hours the first blown save in 16 chances this season by Padres closer Robert Suarez, who walked four straight batters and was charged with five runs in a 9-5 loss.

The bullpen has now allowed 31 runs in 17⅔ innings over the past six games in which it has worked.

Only once before in franchise history had the bullpen allowed 31 runs over a six-game stretch. That was over a decade ago and took 28⅓ innings to do.

Tuesday was the second straight night a Padres comeback was thwarted by an Angels comeback. It was also the second straight night that some good baseball was sullied by the bullpen.

An excellent defensive play prevented a run, astute baserunning helped the Padres to two runs, and Dylan Cease set the bullpen up with 6⅔ fine innings.

It was far better than fine, actually.

Cease struck out 10 and allowed just four singles after the unfortunate fastball he left in the heart of the zone on the game’s second pitch that Zach Neto hit about two feet beyond the left field wall.

And, crucially, Cease is fine.

Cease was pulled from his previous start six days prior with two outs in the seventh inning after experiencing cramping in his right forearm while throwing a slider. It was just two batters earlier that he allowed his first hit of the game.

After Neto’s home run, the Angels hardly touched Cease for three innings.

The final two outs of the first inning and first two outs of the second came on strikeouts finished off by Angels batters swinging through sliders. That is also how Cease got the final two outs of the third.

He set down nine batters — six by strikeout — before Nolan Schanuel led off the fourth inning with a single.

Schanuel would finish the inning on third base after advancing on a wild pitch and Jorge Soler’s two-out single Schanuel would have scored easily had second baseman Jake Cronenworth not made a diving stop and come up ready to throw home, forcing Schanuel to stop abruptly after rounding third hard. Cease retired the next batter on a grounder to keep it a 1-1 game.

Padres hitters, though, weren’t doing much against José Soriano either.

Machado, who singled in the first and Tatis, who walked with two outs in the third, were the Padres’ only baserunners through four innings.

Then their first two batters reached in the fifth, and the Padres took a 2-1 lead thanks to a couple heads-up baserunning plays, a pair of errors and a perfect bunt.

Xander Bogaerts began the bottom of the fifth with a walk and went to third when right fielder Jo Adell bobbled, ever-so-slightly, a single by Jake Cronenworth.

With Jason Heyward up, Soriano spiked a pitch that got away from catcher Taylor Ward and bounced to his left. Cronenworth took off for second, and Ward threw wide and into center field on a misguided attempt to get him. That allowed Bogaerts to score and Cronenworth to scamper to third.

After Heyward struck out, Martín Maldonado laid down a bunt to the left side that was as perfect as it had to be with the infield playing in. With Cronenworth taking off on contact, all third baseman Yoán Moncada could do was throw to first to get Maldonado.

The Angels got two one-out singles in the sixth before Cease ended the inning with a double play grounder. He began the seventh with a pop fly out and groundout before issuing his first walk of the game.