The Padres made it stressful again, but they still walked out with the same result: a 7-6 win over the Giants after building a cushion and then spending the late innings trying to survive it.
San Diego opened the game by taking punches first. Michael King was tagged for two quick runs in the first when Rafael Devers kept doing damage with a two-run homer, the kind of swing that makes you shake your head and wonder why anyone keeps giving him chances. The Padres answered right away in the second, and Dustin Harris stayed hot with a two-run RBI single off Giants starter Cesar Perdomo to even things up.
That tie didn’t last long. San Francisco grabbed the lead back in the bottom of the inning when Shay Whitcomb went deep, and the game sat at 3-2 until the Padres started stacking good at-bats together over the next few frames.
Jackson Merrill brought the power in the third with a solo homer. Then in the fourth, Hays added a run-scoring sacrifice fly to put San Diego in front 4-3. In the fifth, the Padres squeezed out another run the old-fashioned way, with Jake Cronenworth laying down a perfect safety squeeze to bring in Hays after he doubled and reached third on a groundout.
Fernando Tatis Jr. pushed it to 6-3 in the sixth with a solo homer of his own, and one inning later the Padres got another run when Xander Bogaerts reached on an infield hit, Samad Taylor walked, and Whitcomb committed an error at third. At 7-3, it looked like San Diego had finally put the game away.
But the Giants weren’t done. Bradgley Rodriguez got hit with a pair of home runs in the eighth, as Drew Cavanaugh and Drew Gilbert each went deep. Gilbert’s blast was a two-run shot, and just like that the Padres’ four-run lead had shrunk to one.
San Diego held on from there, and the win keeps the Padres in the third wild card race. Depending on how later action shakes out, they could either widen that cushion or move a step closer to a higher spot.
In Other News...
Padres Infield Plans Just Got More Interesting With One Star Linked
The Padres are already expected to chase starting pitching in the 2026-27 offseason, but a new layer has crept into the conversation around their roster plans. CBS Sports analyst Mike Axisa has floated San Diego as a potential landing spot for Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., whose mix of athleticism and left-handed pop has kept him on the radar while he plays the 2026 season on a one-year deal in New York.
For a Padres club that always has to balance urgency with long-term fit, Chisholm is the kind of name that naturally changes the way people look at the infield picture. He has been productive enough offensively and solid enough defensively to draw attention beyond the Bronx, and San Diego is not the only club in the mix, with the Texas Rangers also mentioned. The real question is whether the Padres want to make room for another impact infielder while they are also sorting out their pitching priorities. [Read more 🡒]
Nick Pivetta Just Made The Padres' October Rotation Decision Much Harder
Nick Pivettas return in September has given the Padres exactly the kind of late-season pitching problem teams hope for, even if it is a tricky one to sort out. San Diegos Opening Day starter was out for most of the 2026 season with a strained right flexor in his elbow, but he came back with a strong outing against the Nationals and immediately reinserted himself into the October conversation.
Now the Padres have more viable starters than rotation spots to comfortably hand out, and that puts some pressure on recent additions Robbie Ray and Casey Mize after uneven stretches with the club. Michael King and Walker Buehler are also expected to be part of the postseason mix, which leaves the Padres weighing form, health and trust at the exact moment when every start matters most. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Face A Michael King Problem This Winter
Michael Kings first season in San Diego gave the Padres exactly what they were hoping for when they brought him in from the Yankees: a reliable starter who settled into the rotation quickly and pitched like someone they could count on. That mattered even more because the contract he signed last offseason came with built-in flexibility, including opt-out clauses after the first and second seasons.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reports King is expected to use that escape hatch this winter, which would leave the Padres facing another major pitching decision before the offseason really gets rolling. For a team that valued his consistency and effectiveness, the question now is not whether he fit, but whether San Diego can keep him from getting to the open market and force itself into a tougher winter than it wanted. [Read more 🡒]