Padres strike early, hang on late to beat Rockies, snap 5-game skid

Jeff Sanders, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Sep 6, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

DENVER — The step back as Fernando Tatis Jr. approached third base was again easy to miss. The Padres’ superstar admitted he “probably forgot how to do it” after ending the worst homer drought of his career last month in Seattle. Perhaps he’s about to get the hang of it again.

Tatis’ third homer in his last 10 games got the offense back on track, Randy Vásquez turned in a quality start and the bullpen hung on for a 10-8 win on Saturday at Coors Field to snap the Padres’ five-game skid.

Better yet, the victory brought the Padres back to within a game of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.

Also, among the reasons for a bipartisan crowd to cheer Saturday night was the video highlight of Jackson Holliday’s home run spoiling Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning in Baltimore and the manual scoreboard in right field reflecting the Baltimore Orioles’ second straight walk-off win over the Dodgers.

The Cubs, Mets and Giants also lost, strengthening the Padres’ standing for at least a day as the NL’s second wild-card team.

Which made it all that more imperative that the Padres did not let a classic Coors Field affair slip through their fingers.

Called up from Triple-A El Paso, where he spent a spell on the paternity list, Vásquez allowed three runs in six innings in his first appearance at any level since Aug. 23.

But Jeremiah Estrada gave up four runs in the seventh, including three on Jordan Beck’s 15th homer of the season, to shave the Padres’ lead to 10-7.

Mason Miller bailed Estrada out of that jam and got an inning-ending double play with the tying run at the plate in the eighth. Then Robert Suarez survived Mickey Moniak’s ninth-inning homer and Jordan Beck’s two-out single to hold on for the win.

Rockies rookie McCade Brown fetched three grounders to breeze through the first inning, extending the Padres’ scoreless streak to 12 innings after an alarming shutout loss here on Friday.

It didn’t take long for the Padres to flip the script, and they were more than willing to let a rookie pitcher in the most unforgiving environment in the majors dig his own hole.

Two hit batters sandwiched Ramón Laureano’s second-inning single, loading the bases for Jake Cronenworth, who promptly singled off Brown to plate the first run of the game.

Freddy Fermin followed with a two-run double and Tatis opened up a 6-0 lead with his 20th homer of the season to secure the third 20-20 season of his career.

The blast to the deepest part of the park in left-center field, an estimated 441 feet, was also the furthest by any Padre this season.

Tatis went back to left-center in the fourth only to have center fielder Brenton Doyle track down a drive at the wall, 419 feet from the plate. (Yes, it would have been a home run in every other ballpark.)

Tatis looked like an MVP when he homered 12 times in 44 games to start the year. His latest home run drought — 32 days, 27 games and 132 plate appearances — ended on Aug. 25.

Tatis homered again in Wednesday’s loss and his three-run shot on Saturday punctuated a six-run second inning.

The Padres weren’t done as they added on four runs in what proved to be a game-winning rally in the fifth. Fermin drove in his third run on his second hit of the game, Mason McCoy added his first hit and RBI of the season and Luis Arraez’s third hit of the game plated two.

Vásquez allowed three runs — two earned — on eight hits in six innings. He threw 60 of his 77 pitches for strikes and didn’t walk a batter, which helped his cause quite a bit when Hunter Goodman homered for the second day in a row as there was no one base for his sixth-inning shot.