Padres rout Orioles, but lose Xander Bogaerts and Freddy Fermin along the way

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jun 13, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — A team desperate for victories sure grinded for one on Saturday.

The San Diego Padres started quicker than they have all season. Their starting pitcher flirted with blowing that lead virtually his entire outing. Two players left the game after being struck in the head by baseballs. One of their relief pitchers and their manager were ejected in the ninth inning.

They beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-3 in a game they never trailed but were never truly comfortable, and they might have lost a couple of mainstays in what has become an ever-changing lineup.

The Padres replaced shortstop Xander Bogaerts and catcher Freddy Fermin in a matter of minutes in the middle of the sixth inning.

Bogaerts had been hit in the helmet by a 94 mph fastball in the fifth inning, stayed in the game and scored and played shortstop in the next half-inning before Sung-Mun Song took over at shortstop in the bottom of the sixth.

Fermin was warming up reliever Yuki Matsui when a pitch bounced in the dirt in front of the plate, and he turned his head and was struck under the helmet near his ear.

Rodolfo Durán came in to catch and guided five relievers through the final four innings.

The fifth of those, Adrian Morejón, was brought in to get the final out when pitcher Ron Marinaccio (and then a steamed Craig Stammen) were ejected after Marinaccio hit Gunnar Henderson with a pitch.

It was arguably Durán’s solo homer in the eighth inning that finally made it seem as if the Padres were not teetering on the edge of a cliff.

Two-run homers by Jackson Merrill and Samad Taylor gave the Padres their biggest first inning of the season and their biggest inning at any point in a game in nearly a month.

The Orioles cut that lead in half in the bottom of the first, and Randy Vásquez just kept coming close to letting them have more all throughout his five innings.

Despite never retiring the Orioles in order, he didn’t allow another run and won for the first time in five starts.

He likely was allowed to work out of trouble in the fifth and be in position to get the decision because the Padres had extended their lead to four runs in the top of that inning.

Two walks by Fermin gave the Padres their only baserunners against rookie right-hander Trey Gibson, who walked two and surrendered three hits in a 29-pitch first inning in his fourth career start.

Merrill walked to start the fifth inning, and Machado followed with a ground ball that initially saw him called out as the back half of a double play. But a replay review showed Machado had beat the throw.

Three pitches later, Gibson’s day ended when he sent a 94 mph fastball up and in and off the back of Xander Bogaerts’ helmet.

As Orioles manager Craig Albernaz went out to get Gibson, who was looking straight down at the ground, several players and coaches in the Padres dugout yelled in his direction.

Gibson had earlier in the inning knocked down Machado with a fastball up and near his head.

Bogaerts got up almost immediately but remained near home plate while being checked on by head athletic trainer Mark Rogow and manager Craig Stammen. He walked to first base as Akin finished his warmups.

Akin promptly walked Sheets to load the bases, and Taylor followed by flaring a single into center field that scored Machado.

Stammen replaced the left-handed-hitting Will Wagner with Nick Solak to face the left-handed Akin, and Solak sent the second pitch he saw to the warning track in right field to bring in Bogaerts and push the Padres’ lead to 6-2.

Solo home runs by Gavin Sheets in the seventh, Durán in the eighth and Machado in the ninth gave the Padres more runs than they had scored in any of their previous 33 games.

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