Padres beat Giants with 4 homers, move to within a game of first place

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Aug 21, 2025

Published in Baseball

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These two weeks in which the Padres are playing only the Giants and Dodgers have provided some mood swings.

The Padres moved into first place in the National League West with a sweep in San Francisco last week and fell back into second place when they were swept in Los Angeles over the weekend.

They came home and fell to the Giants on Monday, their fourth loss in a row after a surge of 14 victories in 17 games had put them atop the division later than June for the first time in 15 years.

Things change quickly when games are played almost every day.

There the Padres were two nights later, getting two home runs from Gavin Sheets and beating the Giants 8-1 on Wednesday for their second straight victory.

And with the Dodgers losing in Colorado, the Padres returned to within a game of first place, two days before the teams begin a three-game series at Petco Park.

The Padres are back on the upswing after scoring in each of the first three innings to take a 6-0 lead.

That left JP Sears to simply make sure he did not implode in his second start for the Padres.

The left-hander surrendered a home run to Eastlake High School and San Diego State alumnus Casey Schmitt in the fourth inning but otherwise spread out three more hits and a walk over six innings before Wandy Peralta, Yuki Matsui and David Morgan finished the game.

Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp departed in the third inning, though not because of the three runs the Padres had scored by that time.

Roupp was carted off the field after appearing to tweak his left knee trying to maintain his balance after being hit on the backside by a Ramón Laureano line drive.

Laureano’s single put runners at first and second for reliever Joey Lucchesi.

The former Padres left-hander promptly surrendered Sheets’ second home of the game, which put the Padres up 6-0.

The Giants were scoreless to that point because right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. had leaped at the wall to bring back a would-be home run by Rafael Devers in the first inning.

Had Tatis not made the catch, it would have been the fifth straight game in which the Padres’ starting pitcher allowed at least one run and the fourth straight in which that included at least one homer.

Tatis led off the bottom of the first by ripping the second pitch he saw from Roupp inside the bag and down the left field line for a double.

It seemed the inning might end quickly and disappointingly when Luis Arraez and Manny Machado made the first two outs in three pitches and Ryan O’Hearn fell behind 0-2.

But O’Hearn worked a full count before lining the 10th pitch he saw into center field to score Tatis.

Sears was working on his own quick inning in the second, retiring the first two batters on three pitches before a pair of two-out singles and a walk loaded the bases. He then got No.9 batter Patrick Bailey on a pop-up on the first pitch.

Sheets led off the bottom of the second by lining his career-high 16th home run of the season into the seats beyond right field just inside the foul pole.

With one out in the third inning, Machado hit his first home run since July 29.

O’Hearn followed by drawing a walk before Laureano’s single and Sheets’ home run, which went to just about the same place as his first.

O’Hearn added a home run in the seventh inning off Tristan Beck, and a double by Freddy Fermin and single by Tatis made it 8-1 in the eighth.