Good Morning San Diego: Padres pull away late to open series against A’s with win

· Yahoo Sports

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 22: Nick Castellanos #21 of the San Diego Padres celebrates with Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 after hitting a home run against the Athletics during the fifth inning at Petco Park on May 22, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images

It did not look like it was going to be a good day for the San Diego Padres when their starting pitcher, Walker Buehler, allowed two runs in the first inning. It did not look much better when he allowed the visiting Athletics to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth inning. But in the end, the Padres were able to tie the game in the fifth, take the lead in the seventh and add three insurance runs in the eighth inning to give San Diego a 7-3 win at Petco Park on Friday night.

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The Padres displayed their power in the early innings of the game – although none of that came from Fernando Tatis Jr. – when Manny Machado hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, Nick Castellanos hit a game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning and Ramon Laureano put the home team in front with a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Jason Adam came out of the bullpen with San Diego leading 4-3 and allowed what looked like a leadoff double on a ball hit to left-center field. Bryce Johnson, who got the start in place of the injured Jackson Merrill, raced into the gap, made a backhand play on the ball and threw a one-hop strike to Sung-Mun Song at second base to throw out Tyler Soderstrom for the first out of the inning. Adam then got a groundout and flyout from the next two batters to send the Padres to the plate in the bottom half of the inning.

Rodolfo Duran opened the bottom of the eighth inning with a single. He was followed by Tatis who also singled, to put runners at first and second. Miguel Andujar followed with a single to load the bases and Gavin Sheets stepped into the batter’s box with the bases loaded and no outs. Sheets delivered with a ground ball into left center that scored two runs and pushed Andujar to third base to give San Diego a 6-3 lead. Machado struck out for the first out, but Xander Bogaerts picked him up with a sacrifice fly to center field, which allowed Andujar to score to put the Padres ahead, 7-3. Laureano was then hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second with two outs before Song popped out to end the inning.

Mason Miller who was preparing to face his old team prior to the bottom of the three-run eighth inning, was able to sit back down and watch Jeremiah Estrada come in for the ninth inning. The right-hander faced the minimum and got three outs to secure the win for San Diego.

The Padres face the A’s for Game 2 of the series today at Petco Park at 6:40 p.m.

Padres News:

  • Machado, Tatis and Merrill have all struggled at the plate this season, but in the case of Machado specifically, Jim Bowden of The Athletic believes that is a direct result of the pitching he has faced over the first quarter of the season.

Baseball News:

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