Hours after saying he would skip the All-Star Home Derby next month, Fernando Tatis Jr on Friday put on his own personal power show, hitting three homers as the San Diego Padres sent the Arizona Diamondbacks to their record 24th straight road loss, 11-5.
“I have always wanted to hit three or four home runs in a game since I was a kid,” Tatis said after leading the Padres to their eighth win in a row. “I’m glad today I did that.”
Tatis hammered a changeup from Corbin Martin over the left-center wall for a solo home run in the first inning at Petco Park. He connected again in the second for another solo shot on a curve from Riley Smith.
Photo: AFP
In Tatis’ third at-bat, also against Smith, he hit a two-run smash to dead center to put the Padres up 8-5.
The 22-year-old shortstop got two more chances at becoming the 19th player to share the record of four homers in a game.
With the crowd standing and chanting, Tatis hit a sharp single in the seventh inning and then grounded out in the eighth.
“They did a pretty good job on me in the last two at-bats. They handled me, nothing you can do with that. I felt like I missed one pitch and could have hit it out again,” he said.
This was the first three-homer game of Tatis’ career. The last player to hit four in a game was J.D. Martinez, doing it for the Diamondbacks on Sept. 4, 2017, against the Dodgers.
Tatis is tied with Vladimir Guerrero Jr of the Toronto Blue Jays for the major-league lead with 25 home runs.
Guerrero has also said that he will not take part in the All-Star Home Run Derby, which is to be held at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, on July 12.
In saying he was out of the competition, Tatis cited his left shoulder, which he said is at 75 percent following an injury early this season.
Tatis sustained a partial dislocation during a hard swing against the San Francisco Giants. He went on the 10-day injured list and returned on April 16, then left their game against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday last week after diving for a ball at shortstop and re-injuring the shoulder.
“My body is feeling a little bit better and we are getting back on track,” Tatis said. “I am just playing shortstop out there and having fun.”
Tatis leads the National League with 54 RBIs and 15 stolen bases.
Tatis also dazzled on defense against Arizona, making a superb, charging, full-speed grab and throw on a slow roller hit by Christian Walker for the final out in the sixth inning.
Tatis made another similar play to end the game on a slow grounder by Tim Locastro.
“It’s been an amazing time. Seeing full capacity, it just hypes us. It gives us way more energy,” Tatis said. “You can feel the fans, the energy, you want to play your best.”
While Tatis came close to making history, the Diamondbacks continued their dubious run. Arizona have not won on the road in exactly two months, with their previous victory away from Chase Field on April 25 when Madison Bumgarner threw seven no-hit innings to win against the Atlanta Braves.
The Diamondbacks have lost 20 of 21 overall and 34 of 37.
Tommy Pham and Jake Cronenworth also homered for the Padres. Nick Ramirez (1-1) got the win.
Martin (0-3) took the loss.
At Citi in New York, Bryce Harper blew kisses at a booing crowd to punctuate his home run as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Mets 2-1 in eight innings for a doubleheader split after Aaron Nola matched a long-standing major-league record with 10 straight strikeouts in the opener.
Odubel Herrera drove in the tiebreaking run with a groundout against reliever Sean Reid-Foley (2-1) in the eighth as both games took an extra inning to determine a winner.
Nola tied Tom Seaver’s mark for consecutive strikeouts set 51 years ago, but the Mets rallied to win the first game 2-1 in eight innings on big hits by Francisco Lindor and Dominic Smith.
Following a costly error by third baseman Alec Bohm in the bottom of the seventh, Archie Bradley (3-1) limited the damage and allowed only pinch-hitter James McCann’s tying sacrifice fly in the nightcap.
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ Red Sox 5, Yankees 3
‧ Brewers 5, Rockies 4 (11i)
‧ Reds 2, Braves 3
‧ Giants 2, Athletics 0
‧ Marlins 11, Nationals 2
‧ Blue Jays 5, Orioles 6 (10i)
‧ Rays 4, Angels 3
‧ White Sox 3, Mariners 9
‧ Rangers 9, Royals 4
‧ Twins 8, Indians 7
‧ Cardinals 4, Pirates 5
‧ Dodgers 6, Cubs 2
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