Fernando Tatis Jr., Walker Buehler push Padres to sweep of Twins

Jeff Sanders, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Aug 23, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — Once upon a time, Walker Buehler was considered a big-game pitcher. Likewise, Fernando Tatis Jr. was one of the game’s most dangerous hitters.

Perhaps both are rounding into form at just the right time.

Buehler spun a third straight quality start, Tatis homered twice and the San Diego Padres beat up on the Minnesota Twins’ bullpen for a second straight day to secure a sweep via an 8-1 win in front of a crowd of 40,103 on Sunday at Petco Park.

Tatis’ eighth-inning homer padded the Padres’ lead and gave him 12 since the All-Star break, the most in the majors. His third-inning blast was all the Padres mustered off Twins right-hander Bailey Ober.

But Ober was at 87 pitches after five innings. So with the left-handed Jackson Merrill due up to start the sixth, Twins manager Derek Shelton called on left-hander Kody Funderburk.

The move backfired almost immediately.

While Merrill was thrown out trying to steal second base after reaching on an error, Funderburk walked the next two batters and right-hander Jeff Hoffman walked Xander Bogaerts immediately upon entering the game to load the bases.

Rengifo then slipped a grounder inside the first-base line and Tatis singled to center, opening a 5-1 lead for Buehler to hand to his bullpen.

Merrill’s solo shot in the seventh, his second in as many days and 11th since the All-Star break, started a two-run insurance rally that enabled the Padres to rest their high-leverage arms.

Buehler faced the minimum through 4 2/3 innings, benefiting from double-play balls to erase singles that he allowed in the first and fourth innings. Even the run he allowed in the fifth was hardly a mistake as Brooks Lee offered at a cutter under the strike zone and yanked it over the wall in right to tie the game at 1-1.

Buehler allowed a shift-beating double to Alan Roden on a ball several inches off the plate, but he escaped the inning without further damage, struck out two in a perfect sixth inning and exited with a lead after 87 pitches (62 strikes).

The third straight quality start doubled the number he had thrown through his first 22 starts of the season and put a disastrous July (9.82 ERA) even further in his rearview mirror.

Buehler has posted a 2.73 ERA through five starts in August, while the 126 1/3 innings he’s thrown this year are his most since 2021, before returning from his second Tommy John surgery in 2024.

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