Padres Daily: Another Merrill robbery; Cronenworth takes it on the chin; caring for Laureano; Miller overtime

Good morning from Anaheim,

The Padres' 12th victory in their past 14 games was constructed differently than the other 11. But once it was finished, it felt very much like what could be expected of this team.

My game story (here) from the 4-1 win over the Angels described how they cobbled together their four runs in the final two innings and got the final 10 outs from the three relievers they have banked on being their best bets.

It wasn't the smoothest of Mason Miller's 30 consecutive scoreless outings, and Jason Adam ran into trouble for the first time this season. But those two covered the final two innings after Adrian Morejón stranded an inherited runner in scoring position in the sixth and worked a scoreless seventh inning.

“We’ve built this team with a strong bullpen,” manager Craig Stammen said. “A.J. (Preller, the Padres president of baseball operations) has done a great job keeping these guys, and (it) should be a reason why we win some games.”

Whatever it takes

Jackson Merrill had it all the way. So did Fernando Tatis Jr.

As both outfielders converged on a long fly ball hit by Yoan Moncado in the second inning, neither seemed willing to stop. Tatis only pulled back slightly after both he and Merrill had jumped. Merrill caught the ball, with his glove above the wall, as Tatis crossed in front of him.

"Great for him for staying locked in," Tatis said.

That is what made Merrill's third home run robbery of the season so uniquely impressive, even if it did not require him to run as far or get as high as the previous two.

"The ball just kept carrying," Merrill said. "And it’s a weird wall, so just trying to get there and plan accordingly. Just a normal day in center. Just see the ball, go up, try and go catch it."

The play looked scary.

Merrill wasn't concerned.

"We were both reaching it, but it’s a home run," Merrill said. "You want to go up there and try and get it. I mean, if it hits off one of us and stays in the yard, at least it’s not a homer. So I think it was great he was being aggressive too. … I think last year and earlier this year, we’ve had a few balls where it’s been like, we’re both going hard and we kind of let up. So we kind of talked to each other and just said, ‘Hey, let’s not let up. We run into each other, we run into each other.’ As long as the ball gets caught, nobody cares."

Taking it on the chin

Jake Cronenworth has been hit by more pitches than any Padres player ever.

None of the first 64 were like what happened in last night's fifth inning when a 97 mph fastball from Yusei Kikuchi sailed up and in, grazing Croneworth's shoulder before hitting him on the front of his chin.

"It’s the first time I’ve been hit in the face like that since I probably played hockey," Cronenworth said.

Here is video of the pitch and aftermath.

The proud Michigander, who played hockey through high school, hit the ground quickly and stay down for a couple minutes while being attended to by two athletic trainers and Stammen. He then put his helmet back on and walked to first base.

"He’s a hockey player, and he didn’t lose any teeth, so he had to stay in the game," Stammen said. "That was the rule. … He toughed it out and then stayed in the game and made some plays for us. We love having him out there. He’s such an important piece of our team, even when he’s not, you know, producing the way he wants to offensively. He does so many other things that just help us to feel really comfortable with him in the lineup."

By going 1-for-2 with two walks and reaching base the hard way in the fifth, Cronenworth raised his on-base percentage 40 points to .273.

Handling with care

Ramón Laureano is Exhibit A when looking to illustrate Stammen's commitment to keeping players fresh.

Laureano, who drove in two runs last night, leads the Padres in all the cumulative stats (.280/.346/.534), RBIs (15) and home runs (four). He is second in runs (12), tied for third in doubles (four) and has their only triple. He is playing a superb left field, leading all MLB left fielders with two outs above average.

Yet, he sat for the third time this season on Friday. That is two more days off than Cronenworth, Merrill, Tatis, Xander Bogaerts or Manny Machado.

"If we’re doing it right, they’re going to be mad that they’re not playing," Stammen said yesterday. "I think that’s a good thing. Those guys are competitive. They want the at-bats. They want to be playing. They want to play every day. … We're trying to keep their best interest in mind. And hopefully at the end of the season, they do feel fresh and they’re at their peak performance."

Thing is, for as much as he wants to play, Laureano isn't mad.

"I don’t know what they’re doing, but whatever they’re doing, they’re doing it," he said. "I just show up every day. … It is interesting. But I don’t want to ask. Something tells me that they’re just looking out for me."

That is it.

The 132 games Laureano played in 2025 were the most in any of his nine major league seasons. Slowed by injuries at times and in other instances considered a role player, he has had more than 383 plate appearances just three times.

"Ramon has been kind of a part-time player for a lot of his career," Stammen said. "We've just got to be cognizant of that and handle each player individually."

Getting some time

Ty France started at first base last night for the fifth time in six games after starting just three of the Padres' first 15 games.

Stammen said the decision to have France start even when right-handers have been on the mound has mostly been about his offense, though he is also the team's best defensive first baseman.

France was 0-for-2 last night, ending a four-game hitting streak that began with his going 3-for-3 with a home run and a double last Sunday.

"When these guys are swinging good, we've got to keep them in the lineup," Stammen said. "It’s tough to have a guy go 3-for-3 and then throw him on the bench for three or four days and not let him continue on the hot streak."

This crazy game

I wrote yesterday afternoon about how it is almost impossible that Tatis has not hit a home run yet.

The story (here) also addressed the idea that there might be some residual benefit from this drought, which at 21 games is more than four times as long as he had gone without a homer at the start of any of his previous six seasons.

A part of the evidence that Tatis should have at least run into a homer by now is that he leads the major leagues in hard-hit rate (68.3%). He has at least one hard-hit ball (exit velocity of 95 mph or higher) in all but one game this season.

But effectiveness comes at all speeds.

Tatis' 57.9 mph RBI single in the eighth inning, which squibbed off the thin part of his bat near the handle the other way through the right side, was the second-lowest exit velocity of any of his 739 career base hits.

Tatis also drove in a run with a single in the ninth inning and walked last night. He is now batting .253 with a .651 OPS.

Maybe he's human

Miller struck out the second and fourth batters he faced last night before getting a groundout to end the game.

Wait, he faced five batters?

Yes. Miller allowed two baserunners for the first time this season and just the seventh time in 32 appearances with the Padres.

He threw 20 pitches. It was the first time he needed more than 19 pitches to get through any of the past 21 full innings he has worked.

Yoan Moncada's leadoff single and the one-out walk by Vaughn Grissom were the just the second of each against Miller this season.

The two strikeouts gave Miller 25 for the season. He has faced 35 batters. The 71.4% strikeout rate is highest by any pitcher over his first 10 appearances in a season since at least 1900.

Tidbits

• Freddy Fermin, batting one spot in front of Cronenworth, was also 1-for-2 with two walks last night. With Cronenworth also adding the hit by pitch, they reached seven times between them. The Padres' No.8 and 9 hitters never combined to get on base that many times in a game in 2025.
• Padres catchers have been on base at least once in 10 consecutive games. Luis Campusano is 7-for-20 with three doubles, a home run and three walks in that span. Fermin is 2-for-9 with four walks and has been hit by a pitch.
• Bogaerts' infield single last night was his 250th since the start of the 2014 season, which broke a tie with Jose Altuve for most in the majors in that span.
• Miguel Andujar hit his 100th career double last night. He also singled and has multiple hits in five of his 12 starts this season.
• Fermin threw out his fourth would-be base stealer last night. That is tied for most in major leagues.
• Morejón threw seven fastballs at 100 mph or harder last night, more than twice as many as he had ever thrown in a game. He also threw his changeup, which ran between 92 and 93 mph, six times last night. Only once before had he used it that frequently. He got three misses on four swings against his changeup. He got a miss on the only swing against his triple-digit fastballs. Five of his hardest-thrown fastballs were called balls.
• Kikuchi became the 11th pitcher to have a quality start against the Padres. That is the most quality starts against any team this season. The Padres are 5-6 (.455) in those games. The rest of the league is 54-130 (.293) when having a quality start thrown by the opposing starting pitcher.
• The Padres have only faced left-handers on back-to-back days this season. Tigers lefties Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez were the first two pitchers to start against them this season. Then the Padres saw Connelly Early and Ranger Suarez in the final two games of their series in Boston. And after a stretch of 11 consecutive right-handers, they saw Kikuchi last night and face Reid Detmers today. (The official ledger shows that left-hander Kyle Freeland was the starting pitcher for the Rockies last Sunday at Petco Park, but he did not pitch due to shoulder soreness.)
• The Padres last night wore their brown tops for the second night in a row. They are 3-1 in the most dapper of all their jerseys.

All right, that's it for me.

Early game today (1:07 p.m. PT) and then a flight to Denver.

Talk to you tomorrow.

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This story was originally published April 19, 2026 at 6:59 AM.