WASHINGTON – Returning from the MLB All-Star break that featured five Friars in Atlanta, the San Diego Padres coordinated their first win of the second part of the season following Friday’s 7-2 opening series win at Nationals Park.
They continue to win like this, and it’s perfectly legal to do so.
“We have to do everything to help the team win… play the small baseball,” Padres catcher Elias Díaz said. “We need that to be in the playoffs and the World Series.”
Nevertheless, the team is underperforming and they have not been playing at the level they expect to play or how they need to play.
Yes, they won by five runs after a sac-bunt by Díaz and Manny Machado putting the icing on-top with his 13th career grand slam in top of the ninth, which was also the Padres first grand slam of 2025.
They also played terrific defensively, making a handful of plays all around the diamond.
“A lot of good things to unpack that game,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “I liked pretty much every aspect of that game but one swing, really. I mean, that was a well-played baseball game on our side.”
However, not only did the Padres fail to add-on additional runs to their 2-0 lead heading into the eighth inning, but they lost their lead after former Padre CJ Abram labeled a two-run shot to tie it against Jason Adam in bottom of the eighth inning.
Now entering into the home stretch of the season, the Padres small-ball style of play continues to be the team’s identity offensively and it has proven to be risky.
A major factor that helped the Padres tonight was starting pitcher Dylan Cease, who became the second pitcher in franchise history to record a no-hitter last season in Washington, anchored for most the game and looked more like himself.
The Padres got the ball rolling during the second inning following Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts came away with back-to-back singles to fill in the corners, later Bogaerts, during Jake Cronenworth’s at-bat, advanced to second base to earn his 16th stolen base. Cronenworth executed a sac-fly to the warning track out in left field.
Current National and former Padres first baseman Josh Bell shut down any chance of another Cease no-hitter with a single to lead-off the second inning. While giving up a pair of hits to the first three batters faced, Cease offset the damage by striking out five-of-nine during his first time through the National’s order.
The Padres took away the Nationals chance to work the bases following their lead off single during the bottom of the fourth inning. Immediately after Bell was called out on strikes, Díaz gunned down Luis García Jr., who was attempting to steal second base for a 2-6 double play.
During the top of the fifth inning, The Padres had a pair of runners on first and second base with two-outs after Trenton Brooks and Díaz were issued with consecutive walks, but they were left stranded after Fernando Tatis Jr. popped out to the catcher on the first pitch.
Cease continued to work his way through the lineup after shutting down the order during the following frame, including striking out four of his next five batters.
Cease’s day in Washington would come to an end following Jacob Young lead-off single and a CJ Abrams’ fly out. All-star reliever Adrian Morejon came in to replace Cease for his 48th appearance of the bump.
Throwing 94 pitches (59 strike count) through 5 ⅓ innings, Cease finished the game allowing no runs and walks on just four hits with 10 strikeouts.
“He has the potential to have a tremendous second half,” Machado said. “And be up there with a two ERA and competing for the Cy Young. That’s the type of stuff he has.”
Defensively, the Padres once again continued to keep Washington off the scoreboard while having runners on first and second base against Jeremiah Estrada, another member of the Shildt’s four horsemen. This time the Nationals attempted to advance the runner on second base following a Brady House line out to Tatis Jr out in right field, which resulted in the three-time all-star to complete the throw from right-field to third-baseman Manny Machado to get the runner out and blank the Nationals.
After Arraez’s second hit and Merrill getting hit by a pitch, the Padres would leave another pair of runners on base following Bogaerts grounding out with two-outs. Going 1-for-6 with RISP and failing to tack-on more runs proved to be costly after Abrams, another former Padre, nuked his 13th homer to right-field to tie the game against right-hander Jason Adam.
Later in the inning, Washington had an opportunity to grab their first lead with two-outs and runners on the corners, but Bell, who was on first base, would get himself tagged out for a second time, trying to steal second.
Three pitches later, Cronenworth and Iglesias worked their way with singles to start the ninth inning, which led to another small-ball situation to score in the winning run with a sac-bunt. Tatis Jr. (single) and Arraez (walk) would reach on-base to set up Machado to blast his 18th home run to the left-field seats to put the game out of reach.
Wandy Peralta, credited for the win, got the final out during the eighth and recorded the final three-outs following a game ending double-play.
Owning a 53-44 record, the Padres currently hold the National League’s final Wild Card spot by a game over the Giants and are five games behind the Dodgers for first place in the NL West.
“It’s a great way to start off the second half,” Machado said. “Great defensive game, great pitching performance. I think just an overall really good game to start off the second half to get us going.”
First pitch of the second game of the series is at 3:45 p.m. that will feature right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish (0-1, 6.48 ERA), making his third start since returning from the Injured List. In his last start against the Phillies, Darvish allowed four earned runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts and three walks through 4 ⅔ innings.
In his first two games back on the starting mound, he has allowed six earned runs, eight hits, six walks and seven strikeouts, pitching in 8 ⅓ innings.
Left-hander Mitchell Parker (5-10, 5.12 ERA) will appear in his 20th start this season for the Nationals. Similar to Darvish’s 4 ⅔ innings pitched in his previous start, Parker took his 10th loss while giving up seven earned runs on eight hits and didn’t post a strikeout.