The San Diego Padres got a pair of homers from Fernando Tatis Jr. to sweep their three-game series against the Twins.
The San Diego Padres broke open a tight pitchers duel with a four-run sixth inning as Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a pair of homers, and they went on to route the Minnesota Twins, 8-1 as they swept the three game series between the two teams.
Both pitchers dominated early, with the Padres getting on the board first in the third inning as Fernando Tatis Jr. homered to give starter Walker Buehler a run to work with and make it 1-0.
But Bailey Ober was surprisingly strong for the Twins as he matched Buehler’s effort, with the Twins finally getting on the board in the fifth as Brooks Lee nailed Buehler with another solo shot to tie it up at 1-1.
The Padres broke the game open in the sixth, though, thanks to some major control issues from Twins relievers, as Kody Funderburk and Jeff Hoffman combined to walk the bases loaded. That set the stage for a doube by Luis Rengifo that scored two runs, and Tatis singled to bring home two more and make it 5-1.
That made it easier to figure out the sequence of relievers with closer Mason Miller unavailable, as Wandy Peralta over for Buehler, who went six innings and gave up just the lone run on for hits to go with four strikeouts.
The Padres kept scoring in the seventh, starting with a solo homer from Jackson Merrill, and Xander Bogaerts added an RBI double for the second run of the inning to make it 7-1.
Tatis helped pile on in the eighth with his second home run of the game, a lined shot to left that left the bat at 108 mph. It was his 12th homer since the All-Star break, and it made it 8-1 and officially make it a route.
Peralta pitched two innings with Yuki Matsui added a scoreless ninth, and Buehler ran his record to 8-6 as he got the win. Buehler has been a mostly unsung hero for the Padres, as he continues to give San Diego good starts as new starters Robbie Ray and Casey Mize get acclimated.
The win didn’t help in the wild-card race, though, as the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies both won. The Padres are still two games up on Arizona and a game behind Philadelphia for the second wild-card spot. San Diego has three more games in this homestand, and they’ll welcome the Pittsburgh Pirates to town tomorrow night, with Ray pitching against Braxton Ashcraft.
