Fernando Tatis Jr. gave the San Diego Padres just about everything they could have asked for Tuesday night against the New York Mets in Queens.
He hit for power. He delivered in the field. And when one of the biggest moments of the game arrived, Tatis went to the wall and took a potential grand slam away from Francisco Lindor.
Tatis wasted no time making his presence felt, launching a home run on the very first pitch of the game to put San Diego in front. That was only the beginning.
Tatis Robs Lindor With Bases Loaded
The real spectacle arrived in the bottom of the second inning.
The Mets had loaded the bases, bringing Lindor to the plate with an opportunity to change the game completely. With San Diego leading 1-0, Lindor drove a fly ball deep toward right field. The ball kept carrying, putting the Mets on the verge of turning a one-run deficit into a 4-1 lead with one swing.
Tatis had other plans.
Tracking the ball all the way to the wall, the Padres right fielder timed his jump and went up to make a leaping catch, robbing Lindor and denying New York what appeared to be a grand slam.
The catch itself was dramatic enough. Tatis added a little more afterward.
He turned and stared back toward Lindor while striking a confident pose, soaking in the moment as Padres announcer Don Orsillo erupted on the broadcast.
Tatis Strikes Again With Second Home Run
And Tatis still wasn’t finished.
In the fifth inning, he stepped to the plate and launched his second home run of the night, this time a two-run shot that stretched San Diego’s advantage to 3-0. After preventing the Mets from scoring four runs earlier, Tatis had now personally driven in all three Padres runs.
New York finally got on the scoreboard later in the fifth when Luis Torrens connected for a solo home run, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
San Diego added another run in the seventh before the Mets again answered with a solo homer in the eighth, keeping the Padres’ advantage at two runs heading into the final inning.
Manny Machado then provided some insurance in the ninth, crushing a solo home run to establish the 5-2 final score.
Padres Continue Fight for NL Wild Card Spot
For Tatis, it was a night defined by impact on both sides of the ball. He opened the game with a first-pitch homer, prevented Lindor from delivering a bases-loaded blast and later added a two-run homer of his own.
The victory also mattered for a Padres team battling for postseason position. San Diego sits second in the National League West, seven games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, while holding the final National League Wild Card spot.
On Tuesday night, Tatis provided exactly the kind of performance a team in that position needed: two home runs at the plate and one would-be home run taken away at the wall.
