Padres’ 7-3 – A season-long struggle for Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado only sharpened on Sunday as the Padres lost 7-3 to the Mets, extending their slide to four straight losing series. Tatis was caught trying to steal third base with the Padres down 4-2 in the fifth
Sunday didn’t feel like a slump. It felt like the same lesson repeating.
Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado showed up afterward. both available to reporters—both with the kind of answers that run out of places to go. The Padres had lost 7-3 to the Mets (28-36). and it turned four consecutive losing series into something harder to shrug off. They fell to 33-31. and the realization kept hovering: if the stars don’t turn it around. the Padres won’t return to the playoffs.
In the middle of that reality, Tatis picked a moment to push—trying to steal third base when he should’ve played it safe unless he was certain he’d get the bag. The result was immediate. He was caught, and the play wasn’t close enough to leave doubt.
“Baseball brings a lot of struggles,” Tatis said, adding that what happened was “part of the game.” He also pointed to the Mets fielders, who snagged a few hard shots by Padres hitters.
Machado’s night carried a different kind of weight. He went hitless in four tries in the cleanup spot, leaving him with a .169 batting average. It’s a stark break from what people expected when they watched the career .276 hitter in recent years—he had batted .275 each of the past two seasons.
His day started with promise that didn’t last. In his first at-bat. Machado put decent wood on a reliever/opener’s 97-miles-per-hour fastball. and it turned into a routine flyout to center field. The second chance went in a different direction: Machado struck out, swinging through Sean Manaea’s center-cut 91-miles-per-hour fastball.
When asked if Manaea’s fastballs had good deception, Machado was blunt.
“No,” he said.
He also summarized the offense’s struggles this way: “We just didn’t hit.” The scoring behind those words came through two home runs from catcher Freddy Fermin.
The Mets didn’t just win. They did it while the Padres watched familiar strengths slip into frustration. Tatis still has the tools—at age 27. he’s helped with very good defense in right field and second base. and he has above-average output when he connects. His footspeed has benefited the offense in several games, too.
But the part that has been stinging the most is the getting thrown out. Tatis knows how to steal bases. Before this year, he had succeeded on 82.1% of his 150 career attempts. Last year, with career highs of stolen bases (32) and attempts (39) under manager Mike Shildt, he succeeded on 82% of his tries. Even now, he’s still very fast—clocking as faster than last year.
And still, this Sunday’s caught-stealing was his seventh in just 21 tries, a 66.6% success rate. It smarted because it came at the wrong time and on the first pitch.
He ran on the at-bat’s first pitch, a ball to No. 3 hitter Ty France with two outs and the Padres down 4-2 in the fifth inning.
The play at third base wasn’t close. Off the hook, as a result, was Manaea.
Manaea’s momentum had faded in his fourth inning. Two outs into the frame, he walked No. 8 hitter Samad Taylor, allowed a home run to No. 9 hitter Fermin off an 88-miles-per-hour fastball, and then gave up Tatis’ hard double before retiring Jackson Merrill on a flyout.
There was another kind of frustration tied to the sequence. France had seen a called third strike from Manaea in his previous chance that should’ve been called a ball. It’s the kind of detail that doesn’t change the final score—but it changes what the inning felt like.
Manager Craig Stammen didn’t try to erase the moment, but he also didn’t want to punish it.
Stammen said Tatis’ caught-stealing was a “mistake,” but that he wasn’t going to “crucify” him for it. He reiterated that he’ll stick up for aggressive baserunning, and Tatis echoed that approach.
“We have been more aggressive on the bases this year,” Tatis said.
While all of this was happening on the Padres’ side, the Mets were getting the kind of clean, timely impact plays that turn a game into a story that ends early.
The game’s MVP was Mets rookie Carson Benge, a 23-year-old leadoff hitter who finished with five hits.
And the pivotal moment that helped set the tone may have come in the first inning: Mets left-fielder MJ Melendez’s A+, backhanded snag of a hooking liner by Miguel Andujar. The description matters because it wasn’t just a highlight—it was the first-inning play that may have changed the whole game.
For San Diego, the top standout in the field was left-fielder Taylor, who made three difficult catches.
The 7-3 defeat also kept the Padres from landing anywhere comfortable. It followed the 5-2 defeat against the A’s that began this bad stretch. and that stretch has seen the Padres drop 11 of 13 games. It has included putting outfielder Ramon Laureano and reliever Jeremiah Estrada on the injured list. Within the plummet, the Padres are 1-6 at home.
Even the way this loss fit into the run felt like a cruel bookend—until it wasn’t over.
Monday’s series opener, against the Reds, will determine if the misery continues.
Padres Mets Fernando Tatis Jr. Manny Machado Carson Benge MJ Melendez Freddy Fermin Ty France Sean Manaea Craig Stammen Carson Benge MVP