Padres' wild ninth‑inning rally
The San Diego Padres overcame a six‑run deficit in the sixth and a four‑run hole in the ninth to score five in the bottom of the ninth and win on a Jackson Merrill walk‑off, extending their streak to seven straight wins. (x.com) Merrill also made a highlight‑reel catch earlier to rob Julio Rodríguez, a sequence that trended across social feeds. (x.com) (x.com)
Jackson Merrill finished a 7-6 Padres comeback with a two-run double Wednesday night, after San Diego entered the ninth inning trailing Seattle by four runs. (mlb.com) The Padres were down 6-0 after five innings at Petco Park before Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run homer in the sixth, his 200th career home run. Seattle still led 6-2 entering the bottom of the ninth. (espn.com) Fernando Tatis Jr., batting as a pinch hitter, opened the scoring in the ninth with a sacrifice fly. Luis Campusano and Ramón Laureano followed with RBI singles before Merrill doubled to left to score the tying and winning runs. (espn.com) Merrill had already changed the game in the third inning, when he leaped at the wall in center field and took a home run away from Julio Rodríguez. The Padres’ official recap said Merrill “played the role of superman in the third inning and walk-off hero in the ninth.” (mlb.com) The win pushed San Diego to 12-6 and extended its streak to seven games. ESPN’s schedule page shows the Padres opened the season 1-4, then won 11 of their next 13 through April 15. (espn.com) The rally was unusual even by late-inning standards. Major League Baseball’s recap said it was San Diego’s first win after trailing by four runs in the ninth inning since June 14, 2019, and the club had not won a ninth-inning game from a deficit that large since 2017. (mlb.com) Seattle had controlled most of the night behind Dominic Canzone’s two-run double, Brendan Donovan’s two-run single and Luke Raley’s two-run homer. Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz was charged with five earned runs while recording two outs in the ninth. (espn.com) The crowd of 46,095 saw San Diego finish a two-game stretch against Seattle with back-to-back wins, and the series concludes Thursday night at Petco Park with Walker Buehler scheduled to face Luis Castillo. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2)
