Padres manufacture runs, prevent runs, hold on for series-opening win over Mariners

SEATTLE - The Padres played small ball and some smart ball and caught the ball on Friday.

And there was some pretty good pitching too.

It all added up to a 2-0 victory over the Mariners in the opener of a three-game series at T-Mobile Park.

“It's kind of how we've been playing the whole year,” Ramón Laureano said. “Just kind of scoring enough runs to win, and the bullpen helps us. And Randy (Vásquez) threw a phenomenal game.”

All that is true. Friday was the Padres’ 18th game decided by two or fewer runs, tied for most in the major leagues. Their 13 victories in those two-run games are tied for second most.

But the story is rarely complete with the 2026 Padres unless it also includes some drama at the end.

After six scoreless innings from Vásquez and another from Adrian Morejón, the Mariners rallied against Jason Adam in the eighth, and manager Craig Stammen went to Mason Miller with two on and two out.

The Padres' closer left the bases loaded in the eighth after a broken-bat infield single by the first batter he faced and a strikeout. Miller began the bottom of the ninth by walking J.P. Crawford and surrendering a one-out single to Cole Young before ending the game with two strikeouts.

“Arguably the best pitcher in Major League Baseball right now,” Stammen said of Miller, who converted his MLB-leading 14th save. “It’s nice to have him on our side and bring him in in those type of situations and then be able to depend on him in the ninth to go back out there and get the job done.”

What the Padres did before that was fairly routine and also some exceptional baseball.

They scored once in the fourth inning with help from a stolen base and once in the seventh inning on a pair of singles and a groundout.

In between, they prevented two runs with a pair of superb defensive plays in the fifth.

Their offense was not any more productive against Mariners starter Emerson Hancock than they had been when he allowed them two runs in six innings on April 15 at Petco Park.

Hancock allowed one run in six innings on Friday. But the Padres did hit him harder and more frequently.

They had three hits off Hancock in the second inning, which was one fewer than they had in their previous meeting.

But after loading the bases - on hard singles by Gavin Sheets and Xander Bogaerts at the start and a single by Laureano that followed Miguel Andujar's 105 mph lineout to shortstop - Sung-Mun Song swung at the first pitch he saw and grounded into an inning-ending double play.

The Padres took a 1-0 lead two innings later when Sheets drew a nine-pitch walk with one out, stole second base with Andujar at the plate with two outs and scored on Andujar's double.

“You’ve got our hottest hitter up there,” Sheets said. “It’s just picking the right time to run.”

Plays by Bogaerts and Laureano and a baserunning blunder by the Mariners kept the lead intact in the fifth. Those plays, in fact, prevented the Mariners from taking a lead.

First, Bogaerts kept a runner off the bases when he fielded a grounder by Dominic Canzone on the grass running out toward left field to his right and threw across his body on a hop to first base to get the first out of the inning.

“Yeah, that was a good one,” Bogaerts said with a smile. “I wanted to plant, but I couldn’t plant, so I just threw it … as hard as I can. I’m not sure if I wanted to bounce it, I just want to throw it hard.”

A double by Young to the followed, which almost certainly would have scored a run if Canzone had been safe. And then Jhonny Pereda sent a sinking liner to left field that Laureano ran in and caught while sliding forward. Inexplicably, Young took off on contact and was at third base when Laureano came up with the ball. He was still at third when Laureano's soft throw arrived at second to double him up and end the inning.

“It was kind of like, ‘Ahhh' and then I’m like ‘Screw it, I’m going all in,’” Laureano recall of the play. “Good thing it worked out.”

Indeed. It meant the Padres’ run against Cooper Criswell in the seventh inning extended their lead instead of merely tying the game.

One-out singles by Andujar and Laureano gave the Padres runners at the corners, and this time a groundout by Song got a run home.

Stammen removed Vásquez for the left-handed Morejón at that point, because the Mariners had four left-handed batters in a row coming up.

Morejón worked a scoreless seventh and Adam got the first out in the eight before a single and a walk and a deep fly ball caught at thw wall brought Stammen from the dugout and Miller from the bullpen.

“It was kind of one of those games today,” Stammen said. “We figured it out with an elite bullpen at the end.”

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This story was originally published May 15, 2026 at 9:40 PM.