The Fernando Tatis Jr. Show carries Padres past Mets

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Aug 18, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Home plate umpire Laz Diaz held up Mets pitcher Zac Thornton until the clock turned to 7:10 p.m. on Tuesday night.

Then it was showtime.

Fernando Tatis Jr. did not wait to take center stage once the game got underway.

He sent Thornton’s first pitch 452 feet to the second deck of seats beyond left field.

That was not even close to his most magnificent feat of the night, which ended in a 5-2 Padres victory.

In the second inning, Tatis took away a grand slam on a play that was dramatic enough and that he turned into a mesmerizing theater.

Three innings after that, he launched a two-run homer to the biggest part of the field in right-center that gave the Padres a 3-0 lead.

It was his 10th home run in 29 games.

But it would only have gotten the Padres within a run if Tatis had not prevented four of them in the second inning.

With Padres starting pitcher Robbie Ray having loaded the bases with three walks, Francisco Lindor launched a high fly ball to the corner in right field far enough to be a home run had Tatis not gotten his red and blue glove over the blue wall with an orange stripe at the top.

He did so after a sprint of 94 feet, a quick plant without really ever stopping and a leap that got his glove above the 8-foot wall.

And he was not finished.

As Tatis landed on the ground, the momentum caused him to bend forward, his head almost touching the ground before he reared back, as his cap flew off behind him.

And as a stadium full of people stood and Padres pitcher Robbie Ray and almost everyone else in the stadium not in the immediate vicinity of the play looked toward him, uncertain whether he had caught the ball, Tatis stood still with his arms at his side and his stare straight ahead.

After three seconds that felt three times that long, and without moving any other part of his body or shifting his gaze, Tatis tossed the ball from his glove to his bare hand.

A noise that sounded like a groan and a gasp and also a lot of claps rose from the seats. The Padres dugout became a mosh pit. Ray thrust both arms skyward.

As Tatis put on an off-Broadway show, Robbie Ray navigated something like a high-wire act.

Tatis was there to catch him in the second after Ray walked the first two batters and another with two outs.

But Ray also was able to steady himself in the first inning after a one-out double by Bo Bichette and in the third after Bichette led off with a double.

A home run by former Padres catcher Luis Torrens that began the fifth was the only run off Ray, who took 91 pitches to finish six innings for the first time in his three starts since being acquired at the deadline.

Walks by Luis Rengifo and Manny Machado added to the Padres’ lead to 4-1 in the seventh inning.

Bradgley Rodriguez took over in the bottom of the seventh, and an error by Xander Bogaerts altered how the Padres navigated the next couple of innings.

After Bogaerts muffed a grounder by Marcus Semien, Rodriguez struck out A.J. Ewing but then yielded a single to Torrens.

That brought manager Craig Stammen out of the dugout to bring Adrian Morejón into the game.

A pop-up by Lindor and a strikeout by Bichette ended the seventh.

But Luis Robert Jr. sent Morejón’s first pitch in the eighth inning over the wall in right-center to get the Mets within 4-2.

Morejón retired the next two batters before a single by Christopher Morel and a seven-pitch walk by Semien. Down to his last batter before Stammen brought in Mason Miller, Morejón won a seven-pitch battle with Ewing by getting him to swing through a 100 mph sinker that was up and in.

Machado’s homer in the eighth gave Miller a three-run lead to work with, though he needed none of that cushion, as he retired the Mets in order for his 31st save.