Tatis redeems himself, getting the Padres back in the win column

Taking the mound

Kyle Leahy (STL) v. Walker Buehler (SD)

In doing so, they’ll face Leahy. The young right-hander has yet to find any legitimate success in his MLB career. He’s spent his career in the St. Louis bullpen and was stretched out before this season in order to bolster the Cards’ rotation depth. Leahy has been a serviceable back-end starter in the rotation with a 4.93 ERA across his first seven starts. His lasting outing against the Milwaukee Brewers was one of his best, pitching 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball. Heading into his eighth start of the season, he’ll look to continue that bounce back against the Friars. The Padres will have Buehler on the bump for them, who has also struggled with consistency in his 2026 with San Diego. He’s pitched to a. 5.64 ERA across 30 1/3 innings. But Buehler is likely pitching to save his spot on the roster. If he can’t turn things around, he’ll soon be supplanted by the recently-signed Lucas Giolito. Should Buehler stumble in today’s finale against the Red Birds, that decision would be even easier for the Padres’ front office to make.

Batter up!

The Friars haven’t faced Leahy very much before, with him only working out of the bullpen prior to this year. But what they have seen of him has been difficult, with only two hits across a combined 17 at-bats. But that was before Leahy transitioned into a full-time starter role. Now that he’s in that role, the Padres should fare much better against the righty.

1. Jackson Merrill, CF
2. Fernando Tatis Jr., 2B
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Gavin Sheets, 1B
5. Xander Bogaerts, SS
6. Ramón Laureano, LF
7. Miguel Andujar, DH
8. Nick Castellanos, RF
9. Rodolfo Durán, C Tatis was raised to the second spot in the lineup after batting fifth for the last few games. He rewarded skipper Craig Stammen for that faith immediately, hitting a two-run, go-ahead single in the fifth to win the game for the Friars. Durán had a tough MLB debut, though he caught starter Michael King incredibly well (and was lauded by King after the game). At the plate, the catcher went 0-for-3 and will hope to improve in today’s contest. Machado’s home run in yesterday’s contest was an encouraging sign that the third baseman may be heating up. He’s been solid to start the year, but has struggled to find a consistent rhythm at the plate. If he can turn that around it would be a *huge* development for the Padres’ offense.

Relief corps

The Padres used all of their high-leverage relievers to finish out yesterday’s win. Estrada and Adam each pitched hitless inning before Morejon hit some trouble. He allowed a run and only record two outs in the eighth before Miller was called upon to get a four-out save. He did so swimmingly, though Miller made it more interesting than the Friar Faithful would have liked. After walking the first two batters, he struck out the next three. But catcher Freddy Fermin dropped the third strike to Yohel Pozo, allowing him to reach first base and load the bases. With the top of the order now up, Miller struck out JJ Wetherholt in four pitches to end the rally. In today’s finale, the Friars will have to hope that Buehler can pitch better than he has lately. Ron Marinaccio, Yuki Matsui, Wandy Peralta and Bradgley Rodriguez represent mostly lower leverage options who could easily give up the lead in a close game. That being said, all of them are able to cover multiple innings. If Buehler falters, they’ll easily cover the remaining innings for San Diego.