Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
SAN DIEGO — For Fernando Tatis Jr., baseball's purest kind happens again house, in the Dominican Republic, inside the raucous stadiums and the tense environments distinctive to what's colloquially referred to as winter ball. Tatis performs there any probability he will get, even in years when Major League Baseball's arduous season tires his physique. It brings him pleasure. In some methods, Tatis has usually expressed, it offers him life. And so maybe it is no shock that Tatis has starred in his first true playoff expertise. The electrical energy from it has empowered him.
“I feed off that type of energy,” Tatis mentioned after he helped carry his San Diego Padres to a 6-5 Game 3 victory and 2-1 lead over the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. “When the fans are coming, meaningful games, leave everything that you have out there — I just feel like I take it to another level. My mindset, my body — everything is just through the roof.”
Tatis' newest house run, the spotlight of a six-run second inning, was his fourth in 5 video games in these playoffs, already tying Jim Leyritz in 1998 and Manny Machado in 2022 for essentially the most in a single postseason in Padres historical past. Despite not reaching base in his different three at-bats Tuesday evening, Tatis boasts a 1.970 OPS in that span. He is the second participant — together with Carlos Beltran, who surged in October for the 2004 Houston Astros — to file at the least 10 hits and 4 house runs via the primary 5 postseason video games, in keeping with ESPN Research.
“Man, he's really seeing the ball really big right now,” Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts mentioned in Spanish. (*3*)
The massive inning that finally propelled the Padres to victory encapsulated the identification of their offense. They shortened their swings to benefit from the huge dimensions of their spacious ballpark, stringing collectively six singles. They did the little issues effectively, most notably Machado barely veering off the basepath to attract an errant throw from Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman. They excelled at situational hitting, with Kyle Higashioka lifting a deep fly ball to attain a run. They produced with runners in scoring place, this time with David Peralta lacing a two-run double down the right-field line. And then, they acquired the massive hit.
Tatis supplied it, unloading on an 0-2 fastball from Walker Buehler that sailed proper over the guts of the plate and launching it 398 toes to left-center area. Tatis stood in the batter's field till the baseball ricocheted off the left-field scoreboard, then rounded the bases jubilantly, channeling the vitality of 47,744 followers — a Petco Park file — who ascended into hysteria.
“Man,” Tatis mentioned, “when I hit it, I don't know, I just blacked out.”
The Dodgers got here inside a run when Teoscar Hernandez's fly ball carried over the center-field fence for a third-inning grand slam. But a vaunted Padres bullpen wouldn't enable them to get any nearer. Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, Tanner Scott and Robert Suarez relieved an ineffective Michael King and mixed for 4 scoreless innings, permitting only one baserunner and hanging out six batters.
The Padres, the aggressors ever for the reason that All-Star break, will go for the knockout punch in Game 4, beginning Dylan Cease on brief relaxation. The Dodgers, exceedingly brief on beginning pitching, will counter with a bullpen recreation. The Dodgers are coming off their eleventh division title in 12 years, however they misplaced the season collection to the Padres for the primary time since 2010 and are noticeably damaged for the time being. Their shortstop, Miguel Rojas, exited early after reaggravating the adductor tear he continues to attempt to play via. Freeman, their first baseman and No. 3 hitter, continues to look hobbled whereas taking part in via a sprained proper ankle.
Also of concern: The Dodgers cannot fairly work out tame Tatis. The Padres' star proper fielder has put 12 balls in play via the primary three video games of this collection. Eight have traveled greater than 100 mph. He is 6-for-12 with 5 extra-base hits and has but to strike out.
“He's one of the many guys on our team that appreciates and enjoys bright lights and embraces it,” Padres supervisor Mike Shildt mentioned. “He just wants to go play and perform.”
When Tatis first performed in the postseason, it was 2020, a yr when the COVID-19 pandemic stored followers out of ballparks. When the Padres returned in 2022, Tatis was winding down a nightmare season that started with a wrist damage suffered in an offseason bike accident and was adopted by an 80-game suspension as a result of testing constructive for a performance-enhancing substance, endlessly tarnishing his picture.
“He's one of the many guys on our team that appreciates and enjoys bright lights and embraces it. He just wants to go play and perform.”
Padres supervisor Mike Shildt on Fernando Tatis Jr.
He performed in 141 video games in 2023 however didn't really feel like himself, so he went again house the following winter and performed winter ball for his father, Fernando Tatis Sr. The youthful Tatis arrived in spring coaching earlier this yr decided to reestablish himself as a famous person, however then a stress response in his proper femur robbed him of greater than two months. He reemerged in September, however his return to superstardom occurred in October.
The first swing Tatis took in the postseason sailed over the fence, setting the tone in the Padres' sweep of the Atlanta Braves in the wild-card spherical. In a Game 2 win over the Dodgers, he homered twice, added a double, leaped to rob Freeman of additional bases in the right-center-field hole and spent many of the evening taunting an irate Dodger Stadium crowd. While most of his teammates lamented the hostility that surrounded them that Sunday evening, Tatis appeared to bask in it.
“At the end of the day,” Tatis mentioned then, “it's a show. And we should enjoy every moment.”
He's actually having fun with his.
