Ryan O’Hearn picked the perfect night to remind everybody what the Padres let slip away.
On July 7, he tore through the Braves in Pittsburgh’s 12-4 win at PNC Park, finishing 4-for-5 with three home runs and a franchise-record 10 RBIs. Every one of those runs driven in came on a homer: a first-inning grand slam, a three-run blast in the third, and another three-run shot in the sixth. It was the kind of line that stops a box score in its tracks.
Even Paul Skenes, who earned the win with six strong innings, couldn’t help but lean into the absurdity afterward.
“I think it was kind of selfish, to be honest,” Skenes joked after the game. “Everybody else is getting on and, you know, home runs are rally killers.
You hit a three-run home run or a grand slam and it’s just like, what now? There’s nobody on.
Nobody can drive him in. Good for him, I guess.”
The dry humor landed because the night itself was already so over the top. And for the Padres, it had to hit a little differently.
They know O’Hearn well. San Diego acquired him from the Baltimore Orioles at the 2025 trade deadline along with Ramon Laureano, sending Baltimore a six-player minor-league package that included left-hander Boston Bateman, infielder Cobb Hightower, right-hander Tyson Neighbors, infielder Brandon Butterworth, utilityman Victor Figueroa and right-hander Tanner Smith.
O’Hearn spent 50 games with the Padres and hit .276/.350/.387 with four home runs and 20 RBI. He split time between first base, left field and DH, and there were plenty of fans pushing for a steadier role. When San Diego let him go after the season, it didn’t exactly come as a shock.
That’s what makes this breakout in Pittsburgh sting. The Pirates gave him the runway, and he answered like a player who was done being treated as a stopgap.
This isn’t really about the Padres missing some impossible prediction. It’s about another player finding his footing somewhere else after San Diego couldn’t fully unlock him.
Pittsburgh got the production. The Padres moved on.
And while first base has provided some offense for San Diego through Ty France, who is hitting .254/.312/.467 with 10 home runs and 30 RBI, and Gavin Sheets, who is at .233/.322/.447 with 14 home runs and 39 RBI, O’Hearn’s monster night still hangs there. If the Padres were rolling at the plate, maybe it would be easier to shrug off. Instead, it just adds another painful entry to a 2026 season already full of them.
In Other News...
Padres Deadline Fears Just Shifted In A Way Fans Know Too Well
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Walker Buehler sits at the center of that uncertainty, which is where the tension really starts to build for San Diego. His season has been uneven, and the questions around his value are now tangled up with what the Padres decide to do next, whether they try to keep chasing or turn the deadline into an opportunity to recoup something before the market moves on. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Fans May Need To Brace For A Real Deadline Reset
If the Padres decide this month is less about chasing the race and more about reshaping the roster, the conversation gets bigger than a routine deadline shuffle. San Diego has enough recognizable pieces to at least entertain the idea of a reset, and the appeal would not be in nibbling around the edges. It would be in turning veterans and established bullpen arms into future value, then using the rest of the season to sort out what the next version of the club should look like.
Mason Miller stands out as the kind of arm that can change the conversation quickly, while Adrin Morejns role as a trusted lefty only adds to the appeal of moving a pitcher with real leverage value. Jake Cronenworth is also part of the calculus, even with his bat stuck in a rough stretch, because clubs always weigh track record against current production. The real question for San Diego is whether it settles for modest returns or pushes for the kind of deal that actually changes the direction of the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Turn To Another Arm As Pitching Desperation Deepens
The Padres are reaching deeper into their pitching depth chart again, this time bringing Jhony Brito back into the mix as the club tries to navigate a staff hit hard by injuries. Brito has been working his way back from elbow surgery and has not appeared in the majors since 2024, but his recent rehab work has at least put him back on the radar as San Diego looks for any healthy arm it can trust.
Britos path back has been encouraging enough to earn him another look, with the right-hander performing well in rehab outings at Triple-A El Paso and Double-A San Antonio. For now, the bigger issue is simply getting him available, because the Padres injured list keeps growing and the need for pitching help keeps getting more urgent by the day. [Read more 🡒]