PHOENIX -- The Padres’ 5-1 loss to the Diamondbacks on Friday was in many ways forgettable.
They mustered only six hits. Their starter, Stephen Kolek, did not escape the fifth inning. The D-backs took the lead in the third inning and were in command the rest of the way.
But for the Padres, there was a silver lining that could prove significant in the days ahead: Fernando Tatis Jr. looked like himself.
Recently marred in one of the worst stretches of his career, Tatis went 2-for-3 with a single, double and walk on Friday. Perhaps it was a harbinger of things to come.
“Definitely felt better.” Tatis said after the game. “Now, it’s a matter of staying consistent.”
After performing at a superstar level for the first month of the season, Tatis entered play with a .620 OPS dating back to May 1, including a 2-for-20 skid over his past six games.
On Friday, it did not take long for Tatis to make his presence known. On the first pitch of the game, he scorched a double to the opposite field. He then scored from second on a Luis Arraez flyout, with an assist from an off-line throw to third by Diamondbacks center fielder Alek Thomas.
Tatis’ only unproductive at-bat on Friday came in the eighth inning, when he hit a 361-foot flyout to left field. It was just a few feet shy of clearing the fence for a home run.
Given that the Padres lost several key hitters to free agency over the offseason — Ha-Seong Kim, Kyle Higashioka and Jurickson Profar, to name a few — the club has become more dependent on the big names at the top of the lineup to carry the offense. It is no secret that Tatis is capable of being one of the best hitters in the sport.
“I think he’s the most talented guy in the league,” Kolek said after his start on Friday. “Whenever he's hot, I mean, just watch out.”
While Tatis getting back on track would do wonders for a struggling Padres offense, manager Mike Shildt said that Tatis trying to do too much might have contributed to his recent struggles.
“It's really more just do what you're capable of,” Shildt said. “... His care factor is really high, just trying to do more to carry this club. Ultimately, all I want him and the rest of the group to do is just go out and be themselves.”
After Tatis helped them to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Padres appeared to tack on another run in the second inning — but it turned out they did not. With runners at the corners and one out, Jake Cronenworth broke off first and Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno made an errant throw to second. It appeared that Gavin Sheets scored from third and Cronenworth had stolen second. However, Moreno’s elbow collided with home plate umpire Jansen Visconti’s mask on the throw, prompting an umpire’s interference call that sent Sheets back to third and Cronenworth back to first. The Padres did not show much life the rest of the game.
With a Josh Naylor home run in the bottom of the second and a Geraldo Perdomo RBI single in the third, the Diamondbacks quickly notched a 2-1 lead. In the fifth inning, five of their first six hitters reached against Kolek, extending their lead to 5-1 and chasing him from the game.
While not much good came out of Friday’s game for the Padres, perhaps it will go down as a turning point for Tatis.
“You just gotta go out there and battle,” Tatis said. “There's no easy way to it. I wish there could be a secret recipe where everybody just can read it and flip the page. This game is a grind, different grind every single day, different approach, different pitches. Just find a way.”