SAN DIEGO -- Baseball: one night you trail by six runs and win. The next day you lead by five runs, blow multiple leads and lose.
So it was on Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park -- a 10-8 Marlins victory in which the Padres held a 6-1 lead early, then an 8-7 lead late.
“It’s one that we wanted,” said Gavin Sheets, who put the Padres on top briefly with a seventh-inning homer. “Winning a series is very important, obviously. But today was our focus, and we let that one get away from us.”
Here are some takeaways, after the Padres settled for two of three in what turned out to be a wild series:
Holy Sheets, indeed
In five big league seasons, Sheets can only recall feeling this locked in once before: his rookie season with the White Sox in 2021, as they stormed to a division title. Not coincidentally, that’s also the last time Sheets played for a contender.
“It was just about trying to win every single night and get into the playoffs,” said Sheets. “That was obviously my focus this offseason, was getting to a team that had those same visions, same goals. I think that’s a huge part of it.”
Signing Sheets to a Minor League deal was always a low-risk proposition for the Padres, after he was released by the White Sox. Few in the organization envisioned Sheets ever playing in the Minors. They needed his lefty thump; they liked his power and his approach.
Then again, few in the organization could’ve envisioned this. It’s May, and Sheets has already surpassed his home run total in each of the past two seasons. He went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 11th homer on Wednesday, bringing his OPS to .833.
“Obviously I’ve made adjustments that have really helped and have really clicked,” Sheets said. “But I think when you just go out there every single day helping the team try to win, it’s just an easier way to play the game.”
‘Attrition’ in the ‘pen
The Padres' bullpen was brilliant in comeback victories on Monday and Tuesday. But those innings -- including extras on Monday -- took their toll.
“I think it was a little bit of attrition,” said manager Mike Shildt. “You’re talking about nine games [in nine days]. The last seven, we had a bullpen game, extra innings. So much respect for the bullpen, those guys are getting after it.”
On Wednesday, the bill came due. The ever-reliable Jason Adam was uncharacteristically poor. Manny Machado’s eighth-inning error did him no favors, but Adam allowed three hits in the seventh, then exited with two men aboard in the eighth.
From there, Shildt was down most of his usual options. He called on lower-leverage lefty Wandy Peralta to face 7-8-9 in the Marlins’ order. There would be no wiggle room. The bottom of that lineup featured two lefties. But the top featured a pair of nightmare matchups.
Peralta nearly escaped. He retired the first two, then walked No. 9 hitter Victor Mesa Jr. From there, Shildt decided not to call on closer Robert Suarez for a four-out save. (“That’s what I mean by the attrition part,” he would later say.) The next two hitters, Agustín Ramírez and Eric Wagaman, knocked in three decisive runs.
Up-and-down Tatis
Fernando Tatis Jr. had been scuffling. So much so that on Tuesday afternoon, manager Mike Shildt was asked about the possibility of moving Tatis down in the lineup. Shildt tried not to convey it, but you could tell the question irked him.
“Ten days ago no one would ask that about Fernando, as far as putting him down in a lineup,” he said. “Six days ago, people would ask that about Manny, and now they’re asking about Manny being on pace to be an MVP player. … I do understand the question completely. But I come from a not-overreaction place.”
Sure enough, Tatis led off the bottom of the first inning with a solo homer in Tuesday’s 8-6 win, setting the Padres on course for a six-run comeback. As ever, he served as tone-setter.
“He’s one of those guys, when he plays with a lot of energy, we say, ‘OK, we need to go,’” Luis Arraez said.
Maybe Tatis is turning a corner -- though he went 0-for-4 on Thursday and is now hitting .188 in May after his brilliant April. That said, Tatis’ streakiness shouldn’t be something new. His ups and downs are often pronounced. But when he snaps out, he tends to do so in a big way.