Overview
- Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a walk-off home run on Wednesday to give the San Diego Padres a 5-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Petco Park.
- The late rally began with Jackson Merrill's double, continued with Gavin Sheets' RBI double and a Jase Bowen pinch-runner scoring, and was tied by Samad Taylor's single before Tatis' ninth-inning shot.
- Tatis told Sammy Levitt on 97.3 The Fan that he "didn't know" if the ball would clear the wall, offering a candid reaction that was widely reported after the game.
- The homer was Tatis' second of the 2026 season and capped a recent stretch in which he has shown signs of regaining power after a slow start.
- The win was San Diego's 35th of the season, leaving the Padres second in the NL West and eight games behind the Dodgers, and it comes as the club tries to turn around a 3-7 skid while relying on a player who once led the league in homers and who missed most of 2022 with injury and suspension.