Tatis again stars as Padres take hold of NLDS

SAN DIEGO — For Fernando Tatis Jr., baseball’s purest form occurs back home, in the Dominican Republic, within the raucous stadiums and the tense environments unique to what is colloquially known as winter ball. Tatis plays there any chance he gets, even in years when Major League Baseball’s arduous season tires his body. It brings him joy. In some ways, Tatis has often expressed, it gives him life. And so perhaps it’s no surprise that Tatis has starred in his first true playoff experience. The electricity from it has empowered him.

“I feed off that type of energy,” Tatis said after he helped lift 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’ latest home run, the highlight of a six-run second inning, was his fourth in five games in these playoffs, already tying Jim Leyritz in 1998 and Manny Machado in 2022 for the most in a single postseason in Padres history. Despite not reaching base in his other three at-bats Tuesday night, Tatis boasts a 1.970 OPS in that span. He is the second player — along with Carlos Beltran, who surged in October for the 2004 Houston Astros — to record at least 10 hits and four home runs through the first five postseason games, according to ESPN Research.

“Man, he’s really seeing the ball really big right now,” Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts said in Spanish. “He’s doing some incredible things. We obviously know he’s got supreme talent. We know that. He’s a great kid, works hard. I’ve seen that since I got here. He’s had injuries, but he’s worked hard to get back here. And he’s doing some really incredible things right now.”

The big inning that ultimately propelled the Padres to victory encapsulated the identity of their offense. They shortened their swings to take advantage of the vast dimensions of their spacious ballpark, stringing together six singles. They did the little things well, most notably Machado slightly veering off the basepath to draw an errant throw from Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman. They excelled at situational hitting, with Kyle Higashioka lifting a deep fly ball to score a run. They produced with runners in scoring position, this time with David Peralta lacing a two-run double down the right-field line. And then, they got the big hit.

Tatis provided it, unloading on an 0-2 fastball from Walker Buehler that sailed right over the heart of the plate and launching it 398 feet to left-center field. Tatis stood in the batter’s box until the baseball ricocheted off the left-field scoreboard, then rounded the bases jubilantly, channeling the energy of 47,744 fans — a Petco Park record — who ascended into hysteria.

“Man,” Tatis said, “when I hit it, I don’t know, I just blacked out.”

The Dodgers came within 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 would not allow them to get any closer. Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, Tanner Scott and Robert Suarez relieved an ineffective Michael King and combined for four scoreless innings, allowing just one baserunner and striking out six batters.

The Padres, the aggressors ever since the All-Star break, will go for the knockout punch in Game 4, starting Dylan Cease on short rest. The Dodgers, exceedingly short on starting pitching, will counter with a bullpen game. The Dodgers are coming off their 11th division title in 12 years, but they lost the season series to the Padres for the first time since 2010 and are noticeably broken at the moment. Their shortstop, Miguel Rojas, exited early after reaggravating the adductor tear he continues to try to play through. Freeman, their first baseman and No. 3 hitter, continues to look hobbled while playing through a sprained right ankle.

Also of concern: The Dodgers can’t quite figure out how to tame Tatis. The Padres’ star right fielder has put 12 balls in play through the first three games of this series. Eight have traveled more than 100 mph. He is 6-for-12 with five extra-base hits and has yet to strike out.

“He’s one of the many guys on our team that appreciates and enjoys bright lights and embraces it,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “He just wants to go play and perform.”

When Tatis first played in the postseason, it was 2020, a year when the COVID-19 pandemic kept fans out of ballparks. When the Padres returned in 2022, Tatis was winding down a nightmare season that began with a wrist injury suffered in an offseason motorcycle accident and was followed by an 80-game suspension due to testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance, forever tarnishing his image.

“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 manager Mike Shildt on Fernando Tatis Jr.

He played in 141 games in 2023 but did not feel like himself, so he went back home the ensuing winter and played winter ball for his father, Fernando Tatis Sr. The younger Tatis arrived in spring training earlier this year determined to reestablish himself as a superstar, but then a stress reaction in his right femur robbed him of more than two months. He reemerged in September, but 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 round. In a Game 2 win over the Dodgers, he homered twice, added a double, leaped to rob Freeman of extra bases in the right-center-field gap and spent most of the night taunting an irate Dodger Stadium crowd. While most of his teammates lamented the hostility that surrounded them that Sunday night, Tatis seemed to bask in it.

“At the end of the day,” Tatis said then, “it’s a show. And we should enjoy every moment.”

He’s certainly enjoying his.