The Padres kept the momentum rolling Monday night, stacking up another win and tightening the wild card race in the process.
San Diego beat the Giants 7-5, using a fast start to build a cushion before hanging on when San Francisco briefly made things uncomfortable. The victory was the Padres’ fifth in a row, and it nudged them higher in the standings as the stretch run keeps getting tighter.
The Giants got on the board first in the opening inning when Bryce Eldridge singled home a run against Robbie Ray. That lead barely had time to settle in. San Diego answered with two runs in the second off opener Anthony Molina, then delivered the knockout punch in the third with a five-run burst.
The Padres were getting contributions up and down the lineup. Dustin Harris drove in the first run with a single, and Freddy Fermin followed with an RBI double to bring home the second.
Then came the inning that turned the game into a San Diego showcase. Luis Campusano doubled in a run, Xander Bogaerts added a two-run double, Harris tripled to score Bogaerts, and Fermin capped the rally with another double that plated Harris.
Just when it looked like the Padres had put the night away, Rafael Devers answered with a grand slam off Ray to trim the margin to 7-5. That was as close as the Giants got.
From there, the bullpen shut the door. Yuki Matsui, Adrian Morejon, Bradley Rodriguez and Mason Miller each worked scoreless innings in that order, with Miller earning his 35th save of the season.
Ray’s night was a mixed bag at best. He allowed five runs over five innings, surrendering four hits and four walks while striking out five. The win moved him to 12-8, but he still hasn’t given San Diego the kind of impact it expected when it dealt for him at the deadline.
Jackson Merrill kept his hot stretch going with three hits and two runs scored, and Harris also chipped in a strong night after a quiet spell since joining the Padres.
San Diego now sits a half-game ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third wild card after Arizona beat the Texas Rangers 9-1. The Padres are also just 2.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies for the top two wild card spots, with two teams ahead of them in the loss column.
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 Keep Making The Wild Card Race Feel Way Too Stressful
The Padres made it look comfortable early, then turned the back half of Wednesdays game into another reminder of how tight the National League wild card picture has become. San Diego got long balls from Rafael Devers and Jackson Merrill, plus a safety squeeze from Jake Cronenworth, to build enough cushion against the Giants and keep control of a game that mattered just as much for the standings as it did in the box score.
Fernando Tatis Jr. also chipped in with a solo homer in the sixth to help stretch the margin before the Giants started to chip away. Even after the late push, the Padres were able to hang on and keep their spot in the third wild card race, which is where every win feels like it can change the mood of the week. [Read more 🡒]