Rookie Jackson Merrill’s second homer of the day was a game-ending drive off Mason Miller with one out in the ninth inning, and the San Diego Padres defeated the Oakland Athletics 5-4 on Wednesday as Fernando Tatis Jr.’s career-high 17 game hitting streak ended.
Merrill hit the first pitch he saw from Miller (1-1) just over the home run porch to right and emphatically turned his bat. He was met by a wild celebration at home as the Padres enjoyed their second dramatic win in less than 24 hours and their first series win of the season.
Kyle Higashioka hit a leadoff drive in the ninth Tuesday night, giving San Diego a 4-3 win. On Wednesday it was Merrill’s turn.
“I don’t even remember swinging it,” said Merrill, who at 21 became the youngest player in Padres history with a game-ending homer. “It’s kind of like one of those blackout moments when you do it and it’s really surreal.”
He went deep on a slider.
“As soon as I saw spider, I basically knew, ‘You have to go here,’” Merrill said. “He’s not going to leave another spin pitch in the middle of the zone.”
Merrill was drafted out of high school as a shortstop in 2021. He had a great spring training and made the Opening Day roster as the starting center fielder, vacated when Trent Grisham was sent to the New York Yankees along with Juan Soto. a blockbuster transaction on December 7.
Donovan Solano also hit two home runs, including a game-tying one in the eighth. Tatis, who went 0 for 3, was on board with a walk. Tatis’ streak was the longest active streak in the majors.
“He could have easily chased a hitting streak, instead he took a great at-bat and earned the walk on a borderline pitch,” manager Mike Shildt said of Tatis. “That’s winning baseball.”
Tatis said his mentality was, “Just have a good at-bat. It’s baseball. To help the team. I just played baseball the right way. The right way of this game is the ‘W’ at the end and that helps a little bit for us to win.”
A’s manager Mark Kotsay was ejected in the top of the ninth inning by home plate umpire Tom Hanahan. The A’s struck out 18 times, including a season-high 12 from Padres starter Michael King.
The A’s rallied for three runs in the sixth to take the lead and moved the lead to 4-2 in the eighth on Zack Gelof’s double to left-center.
The Padres tied the score in the bottom of the eighth on Solano’s drive to center Lucas Erceg.
San Diego has hit 15 home runs since Friday night and has homered in 10 straight games at Petco Park.
“The talent we have is almost expected,” King said. “The games where it’s not there, you come in and you’re shocked that we didn’t hit a 450-foot home run. You think about all the guys we have, the talent we have, and the two guys that did were the two you probably didn’t expect to hit a home run today. One through nine in this order is dangerous and it’s fun when they all click.
The A’s put on a small-ball clinic while erasing a 2-0 deficit in the sixth.
The A’s opened the sixth with five straight singles and then a walk. King allowed consecutive singles and was relieved by Wandy Peralta. Tyler Soderstrom and Shea Langeliers had RBI singles.
Seth Brown, a left-handed hitter, laid down a perfect bunt to third base, which evaded Peralta and, with third baseman Abraham Toro covering the bag as Soderstrom advanced from second, rolled all the way to the dirt, where shortstop Ha- Seong Kim fielded the ball and threw home too late to get Soderstrom.
Daz Cameron walked to load the bases before rookie Stephen Kolek came on and struck out two. Left fielder Jose Azocar then made a nice sliding catch on Toro’s flyball.
The Padres took a 2-0 lead on home runs by Solano in the second and Merrill in the fifth, both off left-hander Hogan Harris.
Harris allowed four hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked one.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: LF Jurickson Profar, who is second in the major leagues in batting average and third in on-base percentage, was out of the lineup with patellar tendonitis in his left knee. He said he has been dealing with the problem for years and it has been bad for a month. He fell while swinging on a pitch Tuesday night in the eighth inning and was removed from the game.
NEXT ONE
Athletics: RHP Luis Medina (0-1, 5.23 ERA) and Twins RHP Joe Ryan (4-5, 3.30 ERA) are scheduled to play Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series in Minnesota.
Padres: RHP Matt Waldron (4-5, 3.76 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday night in the opener of a three-game series at the New York Mets.
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