CHICAGO -- A year ago, the Padres made a habit of wild come-from-behind victories. They regularly found ways to win games they had little business winning.
That trait seems to have carried over into 2025. How else to explain a game like Sunday -- when the Padres allowed seven early runs, then rallied from a four-run deficit for a wild 8-7 victory over the Cubs at a frigid Wrigley Field.
¡°We just have it in us,¡± said Fernando Tatis Jr. ¡°... We¡¯re just going to come back. We¡¯re going to find a way to create runs. We¡¯re going to hit the ball out of the park. We can move runners, beat out ground-ball double plays, make adjustments. We¡¯re just going to find a way.¡±
The Padres did all of that on Sunday afternoon. They played long ball and small ball. They slugged their way to runs and created runs on the basepaths. Tatis himself scored the eventual winning run when Manny Machado hustled to beat out a double play, perhaps forcing a rushed throw and the ensuing error on first baseman Justin Turner.
But -- perhaps most importantly -- the Padres pitched their way to this comeback, too. Which seems an odd thing to say after they allowed seven runs. But five of those runs came during an unsightly first inning -- which featured four Kyle Hart walks and two Logan Gillaspie balks. Another two came in the second, when Kyle Tucker took Gillaspie deep.
After that?
¡°They locked that down,¡± Machado said of the bullpen. ¡°They did a tremendous job, man. They picked up the starter today. That was huge for us and kept us in the game -- to keep that game at 7 gives us an opportunity to score some runs and get ahead.¡±
Hart¡¯s follow-up to his storybook Padres debut was a struggle from outset. Handed a three-run lead, Hart couldn¡¯t find the strike zone. He was lifted for Gillaspie after recording just two outs and throwing 39 pitches.
Gillaspie¡¯s day started inauspiciously enough. The Cubs led by four, and the game threatened to slip away from the Padres. Until¡
¡°Gillaspie kind of settled down, and then they went to some very good relievers,¡± said Cubs manager Craig Counsell. ¡°I think one of the strengths of their team is the back end of their bullpen, and those guys did a nice job. We put ourselves in a position to hopefully avoid that group. And they clawed back.¡±
Which these Padres have a knack for doing.
¡°We always feel like we¡¯re in the ballgame,¡± Padres manager Mike Shildt said. ¡°And clearly we displayed that today.¡±
Jackson Merrill¡¯s two-run, fourth-inning homer sparked the comeback, as Merrill became the youngest player in franchise history to reach 100 career RBIs. The Padres threatened in seemingly every frame -- heck, they put runners on base in all nine innings.
In the late innings, the Padres finally broke through. Gavin Sheets delivered a two-out, game-tying single in the eighth. In the ninth, Luis Arraez¡¯s fourth hit of the game moved Tatis to second base with one out, setting the stage for Machado.
Machado¡¯s sharp grounder to the right of shortstop Dansby Swanson would¡¯ve gone down as an inning-ending double play had Turner squeezed Nico Hoerner¡¯s throw. He didn¡¯t. The ball caromed off Turner¡¯s glove and trickled into foul territory.
¡°I saw that ball go by, and I¡¯m like, ¡®Tati¡¯s going to score easy,¡¯¡± Machado said. ¡°We¡¯re good.¡±
With a bullpen as dominant as this one, they truly were.
The Padres -- who won all seven games on their season-opening homestand, then lost the first two in Chicago this weekend -- played the bottom of a ninth inning for the first time this season. Robert Suarez made quick work of it, after a pair of former Cubs -- Jeremiah Estrada and Jason Adam -- also pitched scoreless ball in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. That back-end trio hasn¡¯t allowed a run this season.
Afterward, Shildt was quick to credit his entire bullpen -- including Gillaspie, who ended up covering four crucial innings after he was called up Sunday prior to the game. Those efforts allowed the Padres to do what they do best.
¡°We just kept grinding, man,¡± Shildt said. ¡°[We were] not pleased with the first two days. We were going to come out here and make sure we shook hands.¡±
They didn¡¯t linger long.
¡°I miss San Diego,¡± Machado said afterward. ¡°We get spoiled out there. It was cold.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t like the cold,¡± added Tatis.
On Sunday, at least, the conditions were worth it.