Good morning,

This was the real Padres.

This is how they win.

They got to an opponents’ bullpen and decided the game with small ball.

You can read about how that all went down in my game story ( here ) from last night’s 4-3 victory over the Reds.

It was pretty much right out of the Padres’ 2025 textbook.

Sure, you can wish it was different. It may not end up being enough.

But winning the way the Padres did said a lot more about their postseason readiness than scoring 18 runs in two victories in Colorado over the weekend.

This was getting better as the game went along, one of manager Mike Shildt’s core tenets. This was stacking good at-bats until they built something. This was a decent start by Yu Darvish backed up by six relievers throwing 4⅓ scoreless innings.

The Padres score

See Full Page