Good morning,
Shortly after the celebration ended, when he was dressed and ready to leave, Fernando Tatis Jr. stood at his locker and smiled weakly.
His off-season training partner and close friend won last night’s game with a two-out single in the 10th inning.
“I love him,” Tatis said of Jurickson Profar. “I love him to death. I just know Profar is going to show up, he’s going to play as hard as he can every time. The guy is an All-Star. He’s a very good player.
It was the only time Tatis didn’t sound entirely sad while talking about the injury that will likely keep him out for at least a month and possibly more than two months or more.
“It’s going to take time,” Tatis said. “We’re trying to aim for the All-Star game (in mid-July). But we are talking about something serious in my right leg bone. »
You can read (here) in our preview of yesterday afternoon’s game that Tatis was placed on injured reserve due to a stress reaction in his right femur and the long list of other roster moves, including included the recall of Adam Mazur to start in place of Yu Darvish. This evening.
“There are serious problems in my leg that can get worse,” Tatis said. “We certainly don’t want that. I played there. I probably could have continued, but the doctors recommended healing now. This way things don’t get worse, but it’s just better this way.
The initial diagnosis of a quad strain was incorrect, as last week’s imaging showed.
Tatis said he suspected it.
“I know how I felt,” he said. “I knew it wasn’t muscular. It was a really sharp pain. But at the end of the day, we’re in this for the results. No matter how hard it gets. We just have to go out there and introduce ourselves.
It was Tatis who did it. In fact, he just kept getting better, at least at the plate. Over his last 25 starts, he was hitting .354 with a 1.003 OPS.
“I feel like I can hold on as long as I can,” Tatis said. “I got to a point where my right leg was hurting, but it was going through my whole body.”
The injury was previously described as hampering Tatis for several weeks. Tatis defined “several” more precisely last night.
“It’s been a long time,” he said. “It’s been gradual. After (the season opening series in) Korea, I had cramps all over my body after that last game. And then when it really got serious was when we played that first series in San Francisco. I started feeling it then, and from then on it started getting worse.
This may not be good news.
Dr. Timothy Gibson, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, said recovery time from a stress reaction can be related to how long a person suffered the injury.
Gibson, who has not examined Tatis and was answering general questions about stress reactions in elite athletes, said Tatis is expected to recover “100 percent” and have no lingering problems.
But the time to return to play could vary from six to 14 weeks.
Perhaps there is reason to ask questions about how this injury to one of the team’s most important players – let alone a 25-year-old who is 10-something $314 million on his contract after this season – was handled. However, we have to be careful not to assume the Padres missed this.
“It would be easy to make it look like it’s a pulled muscle,” Gibson said. “This is the kind of injury runners get. It’s not that common. The fact that this was delayed isn’t all that surprising. »
Professional things
Profar’s game-winning single was his fourth hit in four at-bats with the bases loaded this season. That would have been his fourth extra base hit in that situation if it mattered to him.
You can read my game story (here) from last night’s 7-6 win over the Nationals to see what it was all about.
MVP and the P stands for Profar 👑 pic.twitter.com/ku5VMwrt2z
– San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 25, 2024
Last night was Profar’s seventh game-winning RBI (second on the team, one behind Jake Cronenworth) and his 12th RBI (tied for second with Cronenworth and Manny Machado, two behind Tatis).
He leads the Padres with 50 total RBIs.
He leads the major leagues with a .519 average in late and tight situations and is second on the Padres with a .351 average with runners in scoring position. (The team leader with RISP is Arraez, whom the Nationals intentionally walked in front of Profar.)
And one of the most impressive things about Profar is that he wasn’t afraid to say that his teammates needed to step up. And he continues to back it up.
As I wrote last week ( here ), playing for the Padres is important to him.
“I think the most important thing – and something that means a lot to us – is that he wanted to be here,” Cronenworth said last night. “And he expressed that early on, and we all wanted him to be here, too. We were disappointed when he left last year. But it’s great to have him back. And the year he lives is who he is. He’s been in this league for a long time and he’s had an incredible year, and I’m so happy for him.
They keep coming back
Last night’s return was unique.
It was only the second time in franchise history that a Padres came back to win after trailing by three or more runs in extra innings. The other time came in the team’s inaugural season on July 5, 1969, when the Astros scored four runs in the top of the 12th before the Padres scored five in the bottom of the 12th to win 9-8 .
However, last night some trends continued for the Padres.
It was their 18th victory this season in a match where they had lost the lead. It was also the sixth time they had come back to win after being down by three or more runs and the 16th time they had won a game after being down or tied in the seventh inning or more. It was their third overtime win and fifth tie.
These are not things that happen often.
This year, only two teams have come from behind by three or more runs more often than the Padres, and two others have done it as often. More than a third of the league has done it twice or less.
The Phillies are the only team that has not come back from a deficit of more than two points this season. And that suits them, having won 52 games, tied with the Yankees for most in the major leagues.
The Padres would certainly prefer not to need so much late heroics.
But …
“There’s no substitute for will and belief, and this team has it,” manager Mike Shildt said. “It’s a trait we identified from the beginning. And that’s a trait that, frankly, all great teams have. There are things we still need to improve. But that part is we’re in a really good position and, from that standpoint, we couldn’t be happier with this group.
Yes, some things need to improve.
Before their four-run 10th inning, they had 19 straight outs. The tying run scored Adrián Morejón in part because a ball slipped out of Cronenworth’s hands. Enyel De Los Santos gave up a two-out RBI double to a .204 hitter, then a two-run homer.
“Really great that we can pull it off,” Jackson Merrill said. “I don’t think we played our best style of baseball today. But you know, you can play your worst version of baseball and still win a game. It’s something to consider.
Solano pays
There were other teams willing to give 36-year-old Donovan Solano the same minor league deal as the Padres. He felt the Padres were more sincere about their need for him in the big leagues.
So he signed a minor league deal with them in April that would guarantee him a prorated share of $1 million ($790,323) if he was called up to the major leagues.
Neither side had any idea how necessary it would be.
Solano was recalled on May 5 and started seven of the team’s first 20 games. He started 21 of the last 27 games.
He served as Manny Machado’s backup at third base, was briefly Luis Arraez’s backup at first and started nine times as the Padres’ designated hitter.
That’s what he was like last night when he singled and scored in the second inning and led off the 10th with a double.
Solano is hitting .277/.349/.402 and consistently puts together hitters who come out of a practice video. He’s chasing at a 25.3 percent rate, which would be among the top 50 marks in the league if he had enough plate appearances. He’s averaging 4.28 pitches each time he steps to the plate, which would rank him in the top 10 if he qualified.
Solano has known hitting coach Victor Rodriguez for several years and they live near each other in Florida. One day during spring training, Rodriguez received a call from Solano. But when he answered, he discovered that Solano had called him by accident, thinking he was calling his gardener, who is also named Victor.
They talked for a bit and Rodriguez asked him if he ever had a job. Solano said no.
The Padres were already in contact with Solano’s agent, trying to match the price. But Rodriguez has become a great booster internally.
It would essentially be Solano or Tommy Pham, whose price remained much higher. Pham signed with the White Sox the same day the Padres reached a deal with Solano for one-third of Pham’s price.
Catch up
Jeff Sanders wrote before yesterday’s game ( here ) about CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore, two former No. 1 prospects traded to the Nationals as part of the package that got the Padres Juan Soto in 2022.
Abrams ended up having a good night, going 3 for 5 with a double and two stolen bases.
Gore (6-6, 3.49) starts tonight’s match.
Information
- Last night’s 10th inning was the 28th this season in which the Padres scored four or more runs. That matches last season’s total of 162 games.
- Ha-Seong Kim’s second-inning single, a safety pressure that scored Cronenworth with the game’s first run, was the Padres’ 14th hit. That’s tied with the Royals for most in the major leagues. (Here is the video of the piece.)
- Machado is obviously an everyday third baseman again. He started the last five games there, his longest streak of the season.
- Kyle Higashioka was 1-for-3 with a two-run double last night and is hitting .243 (9-for-37) with five home runs, a triple and a double in June.
- Cronenworth was 1 for 4 and scored twice last night. He is 10-for-22 (.455) with nine runs during a five-game hitting streak.
- Merrill was 1-for-4 with a run and two RBIs last night and 10-for-23 (.435) with eight RBIs during a six-game hitting streak.
- The Padres were 5-for-8 with runners in scoring position last night, their most hits under those circumstances in 15 games.
- Remember when it was a big deal the Padres were so bad at night at Petco Park? Otherwise, here’s a reminder that there were at one point between 4 and 15 at night games downtown. They have now won seven consecutive home games.
Alright, that’s it for me.
I’ll talk to you tomorrow.