The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Longball helps Padres rally from 8-0 down to stun Cubs
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a go-ahead, two-run home run with two outs in the eighth, two innings after the Padres scored seven runs, and San Diego stunned the Chicago Cubs 9-8 late Monday night.
On the 20th anniversary of the first Padres game at Petco Park, Tatis exuberantly celebrated the moment that fully erased an 8-0 deficit. He held his bat out with his left arm as he watched the ball sail into the left field seats, flipped it, hollered and pumped his fists as he started his trot. He was wearing custom cleats honoring the late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. Rookie Jackson Merrill was aboard on a leadoff walk off Adbert Alzolay (1-1).
In conjunction with his branding company Xample, Tatis plans to unveil 50 pairs of custom cleats this season. His choice for Monday night, featuring different designs on each cleat, honored Gwynn, known as Mr. Padre, who played his entire 20-season career in San Diego. Gwynn died in 2014 at age 54.
Tatis slammed into the wall in right after just missing Dansby Swanson’s tworun triple in the fourth that gave the Cubs an 8-0 lead.
Shildt said Tatis came up to him in the dugout and said, ‘Man, just a game of inches.’ I said, ‘Yeah, sometimes things don’t work out and we’ve got to keep fighting.’ This was when it was 8-0 and he said, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to keep fighting,’ and he patted me on the back.”
Wandy Peralta (1-0) got the win and Robert Suarez the save, his fourth.
Cubs right-hander Javier Assad, who grew up across the border in Tijuana, took a two-hit shutout and an 8-0 lead into the sixth before the Padres pulled within a run in the sixth that was highlighted by two-run homers by Jake Cronenworth and Xander Bogaerts. The Padres had five hits, a walk and an error that inning.
Assad allowed a leadoff walk to Tatis before being chased by Cronenworth’s two-run homer to right, his first. Jose Cuas came on
and the next three Padres batters reached, starting with Manny Machado on an error by shortstop Dansby Swanson that made three of the runs unearned. Ha-seong Kim hit a tworun triple and Luis Campusano an RBI grounder. Bogaerts capped the scoring with a two-run shot off Luke Little, his first. Tatis flied out to right to end the inning.
Yu Darvish, who pitched for the Cubs from 20182020, threw 42 pitches in the second inning, when the Cubs scored four runs on three hits, two walks and a hit batter. Darvish twice loaded the bases and Ian Happ and Cody Bellinger each hit a two-run single.
Darvish got through a quick third inning but was done for the night after allowing four runs and four hits while striking out four and walking three. It was just the 10th time in 281 career starts, including the postseason, that Darvish went three or fewer innings.
Ohtani update
Much has changed for Shohei Ohtani this season.
He’s with a new team. He’s a married man. And, he doesn’t have Ippei Mizuhara at his side for the first time since Ohtani came to the United States.
Mizuhara was not only Ohtani’s interpreter from the time he signed with the Angels in 2018. He also became a close friend and right-hand man for six years. All that changed last month when Mizuhara’s
gambling problem came to light. He was fired by the Dodgers amid accusations of stealing money from Ohtani to pay his gambling debts.
“It’s only been a couple weeks since then, and it’s not like I’ve been doing much aside from just being at the hotel and at home,” Ohtani said of Mizuhara’s absence from his life, this time with Will Ireton serving as interpreter. “I’m just really grateful, thankful, that the team and the personnel has supported me throughout the process.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it might be helpful to no longer have Mizuhara acting as “a buffer” between Ohtani and his teammates and the coaching staff. He says the first weeks of the season have been a learning opportunity.
“I think each day we’re learning more (about Ohtani),” Roberts said “I think each day he’s becoming more comfortable. He’s laughing a ton. He’s asking questions.”
The biggest question still lingering around Ohtani is about the outcome of investigations by federal authorities as well as MLB into the situation with Mizuhara.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said on a New York radio show on Sunday that the investigation would be “relatively short” and praised Ohtani for his public statement regarding the situation given on March 25, calling it “really credible, really transparent.”
“But I think it’s incumbent upon us just to make sure that we can verify the story that’s there to give our fans absolute assurance about the integrity of the game,” Manfred said.
Tough home crowd
David Bednar’s first three seasons in Pittsburgh largely have been charmed ones as the hometown kid developed into a two-time All-star closer for a team convinced it’s on the rise.
And while the Pirates may be on their way to contention, Bednar is faltering. The right-hander blew his third save in four chances on Tuesday when Detroit rallied for a 5-3 win.
The most jarring moment wasn’t the walk or the two batters he hit that fueled the Tigers’ comeback, but the sound of Bednar being booed at home by a crowd that has emphatically embraced him from the moment he arrived from San Diego in the January 2021 trade that sent Joe Musgrove the Padres.
While Bednar, who spent most of spring training sidelined with a lat injury, took responsibility for his performance, his teammates are more concerned about the way he was treated by fans when left the game.
“This is the pride of Pittsburgh,” first baseman Rowdy Tellez said. “To everybody: We don’t do that out here . ... What happened today is, I think, unacceptable. We as a group in Pittsburgh have got to be better. He’s an All-star for a reason and we just have to be better.”
Mets-twins trade
The Minnesota Twins acquired right-hander Michael Tonkin from the New York Mets to aid their injury-depleted bullpen.
The Twins placed right fielder Max Kepler on the 10-day injured list to make room on the 26-man roster. The Twins sent cash to the Mets for the Tonkin, who was designated for assignment on Friday. He took two losses in three games, with six hits and two runs allowed in four innings.
Tonkin debuted with the Twins in 2013.