Padres Blast Four First-Inning Homers, Survive Yankees' Late Chaos
San Diego hit three home runs in the first inning alone — Tatis Jr., Cronenworth, and Machado going back-to-back-to-back — and never surrendered the lead in a 4-3 win over New York. The Yankees made it genuinely uncomfortable in the eighth, but the Padres held on.
The story of the night was written before most fans had finished their first drink. Tatis Jr. opened the scoring with a 371-foot shot to right, and the win probability swung from 63% to 73% on that single swing. Then Cronenworth followed with a 343-foot homer to left, and Machado capped the barrage with a 416-foot blast to center. Three batters, three home runs, three runs — and Gerrit Cole, who went 7.0 innings and allowed all four earned runs on 6 hits, was staring at a deficit before the game had any real shape to it.
San Diego's offense went quiet after that first-inning explosion, but Campusano made sure the cushion held. In the seventh, he launched a 433-foot homer to left center — the longest ball of the night — to push the lead to 4-0. Michael King did his part on the mound, working 6.0 innings and allowing 0 earned runs on 4 hits. That's a performance that looks even better given what Cole was dealing with on the other side. Mason Miller then came on and struck out three in a perfect eighth inning, and Bradgley Rodriguez struck out two in a clean ninth.
The Yankees, to their credit, refused to fold. In the eighth, Jones doubled to left to score Bellinger and move Goldschmidt to third. Then Rosario reached on an infield single to the pitcher, and what followed was a two-run gift: Goldschmidt scored and Jones scored on a throwing error by the Padres pitcher. Suddenly it was 4-3, and what had looked like a comfortable San Diego evening turned into something that required actual attention. But the Padres' bullpen had already done its damage — Miller's three strikeouts in the eighth appear, in hindsight, to have been the real back-breaker for New York's comeback hopes. Four home runs, a shutdown starting performance from King, and just enough late-inning nerve. San Diego earned this one the hard way after making it look easy.