Padres rally, Merrill star
San Diego completed its seventh straight win by rallying from six runs down in the sixth and four runs down in the ninth, sealing the comeback in dramatic fashion. (x.com) Jackson Merrill made a game‑changing moment by robbing Julio Rodríguez of a homer and then later delivering the walk‑off in the Vedder Cup matchup. (x.com)
San Diego erased a 6-0 hole and a 6-2 deficit entering the ninth on April 15, beating Seattle 7-6 when Jackson Merrill lined a two-run double into the left-field corner at Petco Park. (mlb.com) The Padres won their seventh straight game and improved to 12-6, while the Mariners fell to 8-11. San Diego scored five runs in the ninth against Andrés Muñoz and José A. Ferrer after Seattle had been two outs from victory. (espn.com) Merrill changed the game twice. In the third inning, the 22-year-old center fielder reached over the wall to take a home run away from Julio Rodríguez, and in the ninth he drove home the tying and winning runs. (mlb.com) Seattle built its lead with Dominic Canzone’s two-run double in the second, Brendan Donovan’s two-run single in the fourth and Luke Raley’s two-run homer in the fifth. Xander Bogaerts started San Diego’s climb with his 200th career home run, a two-run shot in the sixth. (espn.com) The comeback added another swing to a San Diego start that looked shaky a week earlier. The Padres opened 1-4, then won 10 of 11, with three walk-off victories during the seven-game streak. (mlb.com) It also pushed San Diego ahead in this year’s Vedder Cup, the annual Padres-Mariners season series that became official in 2025. The teams share a spring training complex in Peoria, Arizona, and the trophy is a guitar tied to Eddie Vedder, who lived in both San Diego and Seattle. (mlb.com 1) (mlb.com 2) The ninth inning unraveled fast for Seattle. Muñoz loaded the bases, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a pinch-hit sacrifice fly, then Luis Campusano and Ramón Laureano delivered two-out run-scoring singles before Ferrer entered and Merrill ended it five pitches later. (espn.com) The Padres had not won a game after trailing by four or more runs entering the ninth since June 14, 2019, according to the Associated Press recap carried by ESPN. Alek Jacob got the win with two scoreless innings in relief. (espn.com) San Diego had already taken the series opener 4-1 on April 14 behind three runs batted in from Bogaerts and six innings from Michael King. Wednesday’s rally turned a routine April set into the Padres’ latest late-inning escape. (espn.com)
