Padres Daily: Wild, the other way; Manny, maybe; Morejón's velo

Good morning,

The Padres are not boring.

Yesterday, they played their 11th game in which the deciding run was scored in the seventh inning or later.

One of those was ended by a grand slam in the 12th inning of a game in which the Padres came back from three one-run deficits.

They walked off another game with a three-run homer.

Their third walk-off win came they scored five runs in the ninth inning.

They have secured two wins in their final at-bat on the road.

The season is 27 games old.

Yesterday's 12-7 loss to the Diamondbacks - just the second of those 11 late-decided games to end in defeat - was baseball being baseball.

As Craig Stammen said afterward, “We get a taste of what it feels like on the other end.”

The Diamondbacks scored 10 runs in their final two offensive innings. They hit a grand slam off David Morgan and a bases-loaded triple off Ron Marinaccio and two doubles off Bradgley Rodriguez.

Statistically, it was one of the worst games any Padres bullpen has ever had.

But …

The grand slam might have been a home run in 10 or so ballparks not located this high above the sea. The triple might have bounced off the dirt in the batter's circle and then sailed another 200 feet in a handful of parks where the ground is as hard as it is at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu.

"We've got probably the best bullpen in the league," Michael King said. "D-Mo got unlucky. I feel like Ron got unlucky. Some weird ground balls, a bounce over (first baseman Gavin) Sheets’ head. There could have been a double play to get out of it. So that’s where it’s probably the elements. Just got to keep their confidence going in the next one."

You can read in my game story (here) about King's excellent day and how the Padres had flipped the script and seemed on their way to a rare relatively ho-hum victory when things fell apart.

You can also read a story by Ryan Finley (here) about how Béisbol no es Aburrido and other observations from the weekend in Mexico City.

Manny, maybe

People around the Padres have been talking for a few days about the work Manny Machado has been doing and how he looked better at the plate, catching up to fastballs and going the other way.

So perhaps his two home runs yesterday were the start of something.

"I hope so, for sure," Machado said. "I've been working on it. Still hitting it hard right at people, not getting the results. But it felt pretty good to get two over the fence."

Neither of Machado's home runs, which tied him with Ramón Laureano and Sheets for the team lead with four this season, were hit as hard as the 107.6 mph line drive caught by Diamondbacks third baseman Nolan Arenado for the game's final out.

Of the 18 balls Machado has put in play at 100 mph this season, eight have come in the past seven games.

Yesterday was Machado's 44th career multi-homer game, second among active players behind Aaron Judge (47) and tied for 22nd all-time with Willie McCovey and Mike Schmidt.

Sizzzzzling

Adrian Morejón threw 10 of the 11 fastest pitches of his career during his inning of work Saturday night.

He didn't know the specifics, exactly. But he knew he had been throwing an abundance of particularly fast pitches.

"Every time, I look at the velo," he said. "I'm not gonna lie."

Entering this season, four of Morejón's 2,061 career fastballs had reached triple digits. His career high was 100.7 mph.

He has thrown 34 pitches (mostly sinkers) at 100 mph or faster this season. Saturday, he hit a career-high 101.7 twice.

One of the reasons behind the velocity jump is the latest example of the growth by the 27-year-old left-hander who has been in the organization for a decade.

Always extremely talented and with the ability to throw in the high 90s when he got out of bed, his rise to the majors and to being an elite pitcher was slowed by injuries. A couple years ago, he took ownership of his part in that and began taking better care of his mind and body.

The velocity increase this year is partly attributable to his doing more strength training, focusing on his back and shoulders, in the offseason.

And he has learned it is an evolutionary process.

"I think part of that is I started during spring training (doing) more recovery," Morejón said. "I started sleeping a little bit more, and I feel more healthy right now. Every time when I am pitching, I’m recovering faster than normal."

Morejón, who was an All-Star and ranked among MLB’s top relievers in virtually every category in 2025, began this season beset by some crummy luck. Defensive letdowns behind him and fortuitous placement of hits contributed to his allowing nine runs (eight earned) in his first six appearances (6⅔ innings). He has since allowed one run in six appearances (seven innings), with the run coming on a homer in Colorado.

His ERA is still an inflated 5.93. But he has a 2.56 FIP (a metric that purports to measure a pitcher's performance without accounting for defense and other non-controllable factors.)

And Saturday showed he is still getting stronger.

"Every time I say, ‘Oh, my goal is to stay healthy,'" Morejón said. "I was healthy in ’24, healthy in ’25. So right now I do a little better things - good sleeping, working a little bit more hard, especially my legs, my shoulders. Last season and in 2024, too, I threw hard. But sometimes when I threw hard, my shoulder was a little bit slower (in) recovery. Right now, that’s not happening anymore."

Tidbits

• Lucas Giolito was examined at Petco Park yesterday, and the Padres believe he will be fine after taking a comebacker off his throwing hand while pitching for low-A Lake Elsinore on Saturday night. Giolito was signed by the Padres on Wednesday.
• You can read in my notebook (here) about the Padres' soon-to-be primary owners attending yesterday's game, King's solid day and why Miguel Andujar doesn't play as often as it seems he might.
• Luis Campusano drove in the Padres' first run with a double in the second inning and their final run with a solo homer in the sixth inning. Campusano and Sheets have both had a team-high three games with multiple extra-base hits.
• Campusano, who began the season 0-for-6, is now hitting .350 (14-for-40). While he has fewer than half the plate appearances needed to be a "qualifying" hitter, he leads the Padres in batting average, on-base percentage (.495), slugging percentage (.750) and OPS (1.145).
• Xander Bogaerts, whose single drove in the game's first run, reached base in all eight games on the road trip, posting a .438 OBP in 32 plate appearances.
• Jackson Merrill entered yesterday's game having gone 1-for-26 on the trip. He was 2-for-5 with two singles.
• Sung-Mun Song made his major league debut in yesterday's eighth inning when he pinch-ran for Campusano.

All right, that's it for me. ‘

It's a short one, I know. A long trip ends with an early flight this morning followed by the start of a series against the Cubs tonight at Petco Park.

Talk to you tomorrow.

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This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 6:59 AM.