MIAMI — For a decade, David Peralta regularly played against the San Diego Padres and often tormented them. The longtime Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder hit .300 with 11 home runs off San Diego pitchers. As a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers last season, he watched from afar as the most ambitious roster in Padres history never took off until it was too late.
Peralta, 36, underwent flexor tendon surgery in October. He signed a minor-league deal with the Chicago Cubs before opting out a couple of months later and subsequently joining an old foe. On May 22, he resurfaced in the majors.
The Padres have since won more than 60 percent of their games. And on Saturday, they beat the Miami Marlins 9-8 in 10 innings to become the first club in franchise history to win 16 times in 18 games.
“I always said this was a great team, and I played against these guys for a long time,” Peralta said. “I was like, ‘Those guys, I don’t know what’s going on, but they have a world championship team.’ But, now, I think this is our year. You know, this is our year because we’ve been doing everything together.”
The Padres are riding an intoxicating wave. Nothing bonds a team like winning game after game after game — and winning the way this team keeps winning.
“We know we’re not out of it,” star rookie Jackson Merrill said. “It doesn’t matter who it is, if it’s the Dodgers or if it’s these guys or anybody. It doesn’t matter. The game is always available for you to come back and win in any way possible. It doesn’t matter how much you’re down by, either. We’ve been down by eight runs going into the fifth inning before; we’ve come back and won those games.”
Merrill was speaking late Friday after he had powered another comeback win — and before what unfolded the following night.
Jackson Merrill does it again! pic.twitter.com/oeAMQ8vuM1
— MLB (@MLB) August 10, 2024
Saturday, the Padres were down by four runs going into the sixth inning at LoanDepot Park. Then, they were down by two runs going into the eighth. Then, with one on and no outs, Merrill entered the batter’s box.
A day earlier, he had become the first player in MLB history to hit a tying home run in the ninth inning or later in a span of 11 or fewer days. It’s a convoluted stat but it shows, in plain enough terms, how different Merrill is from other 21-year-olds — or, for that matter, most big leaguers of any age.
“He’s a rookie,” Padres infielder Luis Arraez said, “but he looks like a veteran.”
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Then, on a 1-1 count, Miami’s Anthony Bender hung a slider. Merrill crushed it. The visiting dugout erupted. There was no surprise involved.
“He comes up in a big spot, and they gave him the same pitch he hit out last night,” Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth said. “Tying the game there in those situations takes the pressure off the rest of the guys and we can just go out there and execute our at-bats.”
Of course, the Padres recently have seemed to execute regardless of the situation.
“I think it’s how we’ve grown as a group over the year,” Cronenworth said. “Tonight was the perfect example. One through nine, every single guy who was in the lineup and came out of the bullpen … contributed in some way. It was an RBI. They moved the guy over. They made a great play in the field.
“At the beginning of the year, it may have been one or two guys that have four or five RBIs in a game and we win because we outhit them. We’re finding ways that every single guy in that night is contributing.”
The overall effect has been astounding. The Padres (66-52) have trailed late in each of the past four games. Each time, they won anyway. Mid-June, when San Diego fell to three games below .500, feels like a distant memory. Now the Padres are a season-high 14 games above .500. They lead the National League wild-card race, with a four-game cushion over a Braves team running fourth.
They have a division-sized goal in mind, too. The Padres already have won their first season series against the Dodgers (67-49 entering Saturday) since 2010. That’s the same year they were last this close to the NL West lead this late in a season.
No matter how this all ends, something special is happening.
“I’ve felt something special all year, and now it’s on display consistently throughout the course of the season,” manager Mike Shildt said. “There’s not a doubt in anybody’s mind in this clubhouse. … We’re just going to figure out a way to find a solution to win. That’s what winners do.”
More than one franchise record fell this weekend. The Padres have won 17 of their past 21 games on the road. They have never experienced so much success away from home.
Perhaps they should have never found themselves in the position they were on Saturday night. The Marlins have been strip-mined of standout talent. San Diego alone has pried away Arraez, closer Tanner Scott and long reliever Bryan Hoeing. The Padres have assembled the most formidable bullpen in the league and, over the past several games, exhausted it.
“We still need to get better in a lot of aspects and not making it that we have to keep coming back,” left fielder Jurickson Profar said. “There’s a lot of things that we got to be better at.”
And there are plenty of areas where they have made stark improvements.
“Since the beginning of the season, we’ve been building this,” Profar said. “This is who we are.”
Late Saturday, as he walked to the team bus, Merrill was asked if anything he has accomplished this season has surprised him. Three years ago, he was still a high schooler playing barely more than a dozen games. He entered this year having never played above Double A. Nor had he ever played center field.
“Surprising, I wouldn’t say is the word,” Merrill said. “I would say more of just like … I’m appreciative. I’m thankful for how my work has translated into the games. I think in the beginning of the year, I kind of had to figure (things) out … because the offseason’s long. You work out really hard every day. You get to spring training, I had to make the team, so I had to go hard every day. And then, kind of being in the season, chill for a little bit, and I’ve just been busting my ass ever since.”
The fruits of his efforts have shown up in full this weekend, just as they have throughout the season. No matter how this ends, something special is happening.
(Photo: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
