PITTSBURGH — Fernando Tatis Jr. woke up and decided he was OK to play baseball.
A few hours later, he willed a victory.
Tatis led off Saturday’s ninth inning by creating a double out of a ground ball to left field that he had no business turning into a double.
With one out, he stole third base against a pitcher who up until that moment had seemed to be anticipating Tatis would try to steal.
With two outs, he ran home on a wild pitch that bounced barely past the left-handed batter’s box, his left foot just beating the tag of catcher Joey Bart for what would be the deciding run in a 2-1 victory over the Pirates.
“Pretty much a one-man show,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said.
How on earth did Fernando Tatis Jr. score on this?!?! pic.twitter.com/th8NzJwb3F
— MLB (@MLB) May 4, 2025
All this a day after Tatis, his team and all its fans endured a massive scare when he took a fastball to the forearm, which immediately began swelling and forced him from Friday night’s game.
“When I got hit yesterday, I thought I was probably out of the season,” Tatis said. “You know, you see a ball just growing on your forearm, it ain’t fun. But shout out to the training staff doing a great job keeping me on the field and find the way not to (make) excuses and just execute.”
The spectacular finish was in contrast to a day of relative inactivity.
The game began after the teams waited out rain showers before starting play for the second day in a row. Saturday’s game was delayed 1 hour, 42 minutes. That was a half-hour more tardy than Friday’s game.
Pirates pitcher Bailey Falter helped make up some time by taking just 72 pitches to get through the first six innings, as the Pirates held a 1-0 lead.
The Padres reached base just twice against the left-hander who entered the game with 5.93 ERA before Manny Machado walked to the plate with one out in the seventh inning and tied the game on the second pitch he saw.
“Just trying to get a good pitch to hit.” Machado said. “Something missing over the plate. He didn’t really miss much. He was hitting his spots. We just couldn’t really get anything going.”
Machado made Falter pay for a mistake, ripping a slider hung in the middle of the strike zone down the left field line at 114.3 mph and into the section of bleachers beyond the wall.
The pitching staff and defense gets its portion of the credit, too, as starter Randy Vásquez survived five innings, and four relievers closed out the Padres’ eighth consecutive victory over the Pirates dating back to last season.
The only run Vásquez allowed was driven in by Oneil Cruz’s 118.4 mph single to center field in the second inning, which allowed Alexander Canario to score from second. But the run was facilitated by a two-out walk to Jared Triolo, which moved Canario to second.
Vásquez would allow six hits and walk five but escape trouble in two other innings before Yuki Matsui, Alek Jacob, Jason Adam and Robert Suarez worked a scoreless inning apiece. Matsui, Jacob and Suarez each got help from a double-play grounder.
To give Suarez a chance to earn his MLB-leading 13th save, Tatis masterminded and executed one of the brightest and boldest innings a single player could have.
“It’s one of the most amazing things I have ever seen,” Padres outfielder Brandon Lockridge said. “… He just made it all happen himself. It was unbelievable.”
Said Machado: “All by himself. All by himself.”
Said Shildt: “The whole thing was just a clinic.”
Tatis led of the ninth inning by grounding a ball at 107.5 mph under the dive of third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes and into left field, where Canario had been playing back to prevent a ball hit over him for extra bases.
“They’re playing ‘no doubles,’” Tatis said. “You pick out your defense, how they’re looking. I saw the outfielder was a little shaded to the right, so I knew as soon as the ball ed I was ready to go to second. So just making it happen.”
Tatis was committed out of the box, reached a top speed of 28.2 feet per second and slid into second even though he didn’t have to.
Luis Arraez followed with a groundout to third, bringing up Machado.
“As a baserunner, you know you can’t make the first out at the bag,” Tatis said. “As soon as Arraez hit that ground ball, I say, ‘OK, a little bit more aggressive.’”
Tatis was dancing off second during the first two pitches of Machado’s at-bat, and Pirates closer David Bednar seemed to be keeping an eye on him. Then, as Bednar prepared to throw an 0-2 pitch, Tatis drifted about 15 feet from the bag. Bednar gave him a quick look before turning back to the plate, at which point Tatis jumped out to a lead of almost 19 feet. As soon as Bednar lifted his arm to throw, Tatis took off for third. He slid in before Bart even had a chance to throw.
After two balls, Machado watched a third strike.
“Just keep being aggressive,” Tatis said of his thoughts at the time. “Next thing you know, I’m a half step in home plate.”
In the dugout, Padres players were marveling at how Tatis had put himself 90 feet from home and practically anticipating what was next.
“We’re like, ‘This guy better not spike one,’” Lockridge said. “Next pitch …”
Yep.
On his first pitch to Xander Bogaerts, Bednar bounced a curveball about two feet in front of home plate and slightly to the left. Bart blocked the ball, which bounced up the first base line about six feet. The catcher scooted after the ball, picked it up with his bare hand and dove back toward the plate.
Tatis, who had taken off the instant the ball bounced away from Bart, slid and got his foot across the plate just before Bart’s tag touched him on the hip.
“He was hunting, hunting, hunting,” Shildt said. “And he went for the kill. It’s just one of the better baseball plays you’re going to see. It’s just great competition coupled with special talent.”
This was Tatis’ perspective:
“I know he has a big curveball, also a sharp split. So I had that in the back in my mind, and I was just waiting for an opportunity. And having a big lead, creating a good secondary and, you know, those tiny steps (lead) to half-a-step winning on the play.”
That is all it took to affect what turned out to be the Padres’ fourth straight victory.
“Sometimes, you’re not gonna go out there and score 10 runs or get 10 hits,” Machado said. “(Falter) was tough out there. So we just competed, competed with them, and just tried to do everything we could to just get one run across. Mine obviously came with a homer, but Tati hustling for a double there and then stealing third base, and then ball maybe two feet away from the from the plate and scoring. It’s just shows that we can win in all aspects of the game.”
