Good morning from Toronto,
It was something.
It wasn’t enough.
But in the place of victory, a team sometimes is left with progress as its prize.
You can read in my game story (here) how the Padres actually showed up yesterday and could look in the mirror and see a team they recognized after falling 7-6 in 11 innings to the Blue Jays.
And since most of them did take better at-bats and four of them actually hit, we can focus on something else today besides what had become the same old boring story.
This promising season is still stuck in the mud. The Padres’ next three games are in Atlanta against a Braves team that is getting Ronald Acuña Jr. back and is already playing much better than the version the Padres swept in four games to start the season. A weary bullpen needs reinforcement.
But even though three players combined for six of the Padres’ seven hits, almost the entire lineup looked better yesterday. They saw more pitches, they looked competitive.
“More energy,” Luis Arraez said.
So let’s take a break from wondering what is wrong and talk about the hitter who put the Padres ahead with a two-run homer in the second inning, got them even with another two-run homer in the ninth inning and then put them ahead with a single in the 11th inning.
Because Gavin Sheets has been a revelation.
The Padres almost certainly need another bat, preferably one that comes with a left fielder attached. Their bench is not what it was last year.
But A.J. Preller seems to have hit on Sheets, who signed a minor-league contract before spring training and is making $1.6 million in 2025.
Where would they be without the big strong left-handed batter who has hit primarily in the heart of the order while mostly serving as their designated hitter but also filling in at first base and in left field?
“He’s lengthened the lineup,” manager Mike Shildt said. “He’s definitely a presence in the lineup. He’s been able to go out and get big swings. … Just a really good makeup guy and is able to help us win ball games in a lot of different ways. Just a great addition to the club.”
We are a week shy of being one-third of the way through the season, and Sheets is batting .286 with an .830 OPS. He hit his seventh and eighth home runs yesterday to go along with his seven doubles. His five RBIs yesterday moved him past Fernando Tatis Jr. for the team lead with 28. Sheets’ second homer of the day came off Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman. His go-ahead single in the 11th came against left-hander Brendon Little.
That at-bat was a beauty, and it might have been the most significant in the big picture.
Sheets is batting .250 (6-for-24) with one walk against left-handed pitchers after coming into the year with a .168 average against them. He has not hit better than .205 against lefties in any of his four big-league seasons.
The Padres have given him two starts against left-handers and lately have been keeping him in against left-handed relievers. Should he continue to come through against them, that would give the Padres more to confidently work with as they attempt to solve their lineup puzzle on a daily basis.
“I wanted to be an everyday guy my entire career,” Sheets said. “That’s always been my goal. And at-bats against lefties were far and few between before, and so now to get some at-bats against them and compete to be an everyday guy, that’s a good feeling. But at the same time, you want to just keep it going and prove yourself and be an everyday guy. … The past is the past against lefties, but I wasn’t that great against righties, either. So I like to think this is a much different version.
“I trust the work I have (done). I have confidence in what I’m doing. To me, this isn’t a fluke anymore. It’s proven at-bats. I feel like it’s the hitter I am right now. And even if I go through a tough stretch … I don’t think I’m falling back in anything, because I think I’m a different hitter. My swing is different, my confidence is different, my approach is different.”
Here is a look at where Sheets has been 45 games into each of his five MLB seasons, the first four of which were with the White Sox:
Sheets has altered his batting stance, his swing path and seems to have found the right place to flourish.
The White Sox made the playoffs his rookie season but floundered after that and last season lost an MLB-record 121 games. Sheets was non-tendered in November and said one of the things that drew him to the Padres was that winning makes playing more enjoyable and he felt he could be a complementary piece.
“When I came in here, that was kind of my game plan the whole time — come to a team like this that has superstars, has a great lineup, and try to deepen it as much as possible,” he said. “I think that’s kind of my role here — to lengthen this lineup as much as possible.”
Nice finish
Stephen Kolek was off a bit at times yesterday with the changeup and sinker that have served him so well. He was behind more than usual.
He allowed seven hits and walked three batters.
An error behind him helped the Blue Jays to two runs (one earned) in the third inning. Two walks, two singles and a sacrifice fly got the Jays two more in the fourth.
But Kolek did what a starting pitcher strives to do.
He got through six innings, keeping his team in the game and saving the bullpen.
“Just the way we’ve been playing a little bit, it’s like when you give up a few runs, it’s, ‘All right, that’s it. That’s all they get,’” Kolek said. “To be able to turn that page and put up a couple more zeros afterwards felt really good. At the end of the day, I’m still not happy with what I did. There’s plenty of room to improve. But, you know, continue to make those adjustments and keep going forward.”
Something to consider
Moving guys around in the batting order is generally not the answer for what ails a team or a player.
But maybe Tatis could use a different view. And maybe having Arraez, who is now spraying balls all over the field that are falling like normal, provides the opportunity to make the change.
Shildt considered the idea of making a move atop his order. He acknowledged its merits. He volunteered reasons why it might make sense to some.
But he did not seem close to swapping Tatis and Arraez, who have batted 1-2 in the Padres’ order all season after batting in the reverse order much of 2024.
“He’s a disrupter to start the game,” Shildt said. “… If he’s leading off, he’s got a chance to hit more than anybody else in the game. That feels pretty good. But yeah, would there be value in his hitting second? Sure. Some of your best hitters, the philosophy is they hit second. We have a three-time batting champion hitting second. What’s your criteria for best hitter? … I think hitting first is a good spot for him, and he enjoys it. So that’s part of the equation too.”
Now, Shildt said that on Wednesday.
Since then, Tatis has gone 0-for-8 with a walk. He is batting .200 (14-for-70) with a .282 on-base percentage in May. Tatis has hit four home runs in his past 44 at-bats, but his three strikeouts yesterday gave him 10 in his past 30 plate appearances. He is in one of those funks where he chases bad pitches in bunches.
Tatis’ OPS has fallen below .900 (to .891) for the first time all season, and his batting average has plummeted to .290, 55 points lower than it was at the start of the month.
Meanwhile, Arraez went 2-for-5 with a double yesterday, extending his hitting streak to nine games. He is batting .361 (13-for-36) with a .378 OBP in that stretch and has those numbers up to .304 and .339 for the season.
Back in action
One game does not constitute the end of a slump. But Jackson Merrill’s at-bats yesterday were familiar.
He was calm. That’s the best way to describe it.
“Just slowed the game,” he said. “Didn’t let it speed me up.”
He hit a single his first two times to the plate, walked in the ninth inning and finished 2-for-4 and scored twice.
Merrill entered the game in a rare downturn, having gone 2-for-27 over the previous seven games.
Here is a look at Merrill’s second big-league season before he missed a month with a strained right hamstring and since he returned:
Brought back the brown
It was about time!
The Padres finally went back to the brown uniform tops yesterday.
It was the first time they wore them since April 21.
Most players — and significantly, most starting pitchers, who are the ones who generally choose which road jersey the team will wear — prefer the pinstripe uniform.
They wore the brown tops in Houston on April 20, won and wore them the next day in Detroit. They lost to the Tigers that night and had not worn them again since.
They are 1-3 in the brown tops this season.
Not on his list
I didn’t catch up with Tyler Wade until yesterday morning following his first big-league appearance as a pitcher.
Wade has played all three outfield spots and three in the infield during his MLB career.
But getting to all nine positions was not on his bucket list, because that would mean having to pitch.
“Not fun,” he said. “I was just trying to be in a good spot to catch a line drive back to my face. Big-league hitters are big-league hitters. Especially when you’re just lobbing it up there, man, you feel like you’re kind of just in no-man’s land.”
Wade was willing to take one for the team — literally, if it came to it — on Wednesday.
With the Padres down 12-0 with no outs in the ninth inning, he entered the game against the Jays.
His pitches ranged from 44 to 72 mph, and after allowing the runner he inherited to score and another run on a walk and two hits, Wade got the final three outs the Padres recorded against the Jays. That was the important part.
“Our team needed it,” he said. “No need to waste any pitchers there. You never want to be in that position. Just trying to save our guys.”
The Padres have six more games before their next day off.
At least Wade now has the scariest position out of the way. So, two to go. And he could do it.
He is the Padres’ emergency catcher and occasionally puts on the gear and receives pitches from a machine in the batting cage. First base is the other position he has yet to play.
Tidbits
- Jose Iglesias started at shortstop in place of Xander Bogaerts, who fouled a ball off his ankle on Tuesday. Bogaerts grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the 10th inning, moving Iglesias to third before Arraez drove him in.
- Iglesias was 1-for-4 yesterday and has four hits in his past 10 at-bats. That follows an 0-for-19 stretch. The 35-year-old infielder is batting .240 (24-for-100) with a .290 OBP on the season.
- After Brandon Lockridge went 0-for-2 and Jason Heyward 0-for-1 yesterday, Padres left fielders are batting .186 with a .492 OPS this season. Those numbers are both third lowest in the major leagues.
- when the Padres’ catchers were hot? They have cooled. Martín Maldonado (0-for-7 with a walk) and Elias Díaz (3-for-24 with a walk) are batting .097 over the past nine games.
- Arraez struck out yesterday for just the fourth time in 185 plate appearances this season. It came on his 13th miss in 340 swings. His 2.2% strikeout rate and 3.8% miss rate lead the major leagues.
- Yuki Matsui and Sean Reynolds worked a scoreless inning apiece while the Padres were down two runs and Jason Adam worked a scoreless ninth after Sheets tied the game. (, we don’t overlook relievers who do their job in this space.)
- The Blue Jays had a losing record until the Padres came to town but are now 25-24. The Braves were 24-24 before losing to the Nationals last night. So the Padres are now 15-15 against teams at .500 or above and 12-6 against teams with losing records.
All right, that’s it for me.
Early flight this morning and game tonight in Atlanta.
Talk to you tomorrow.
