Fernando Tatis Jr. and Rafael Devers are building a little home-run robbery routine at Petco Park, and Devers got the bad end of it again on July 30.
The Padres still lost 4-1 to the San Francisco Giants, so Tatis’ latest defensive masterpiece didn’t change the final result. Robbie Ray shut down San Diego’s offense, and one spectacular play can only do so much. But the catch itself was the kind that stops a game cold.
Devers came up in the first inning with runners on and sent a JP Sears pitch toward the right-center-field seats. It had the look of an early three-run homer. Tatis erased that idea in a hurry.
He ran down 94 feet, reached the short wall and pulled the ball back in. One run scored on the sacrifice fly, but two others never crossed. Tatis even got himself back up after tumbling onto the warning track and flipped the ball to Jackson Merrill to keep the other runner at first.
It was smooth, outrageous, and somehow not even the first time this has happened.
Fernando Tatis Jr. ROBBERY pic.twitter.com/YJyE1R0zjw
- Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 31, 2026
Tatis has now robbed Devers in back-to-back seasons. He also took a homer away from him at Petco Park on Aug.
20, 2025. Both plays came in the first inning.
Both came with Sears pitching. Both denied one of the game’s most dangerous left-handed bats.
The details were different, though. Last year, Tatis went up the taller wall in straightaway right field during a span when he swatted four home runs over 27 games at Petco Park. This time, he sprinted into the right-center gap and made the grab in front of the shorter fence.
Tatis hasn’t matched last season’s pace of three robbed homers this year, which may have something to do with how often he’s lined up at second base.
Devers didn’t shrug it off, either. He answered with three hits as the Giants took care of the Padres.
San Diego, meanwhile, is left with a rough night in a tight spot. The club is in third place in the NL West, one game over .500, and in the middle of a Wild Card race with the trade deadline coming up. The path to October is still there, but it’s getting steeper.
And for Devers, there’s the extra sting of being denied by the same man, in the same inning, at the same ballpark. One robbery is a highlight. Two starts to feel like a grudge.
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