September 4, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) hits two in the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers at Petco Park Base hit. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images Fernando Tatis Jr.'s two-out single in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Jackson Merrill and the San Diego Padres fought back from a 5-0 deficit on Wednesday night. Defeated the visiting Detroit Tigers 6-5.
Merrill started the inning at second. After Elias Diaz struck out and Mason McCoy considered his third at-bat, Luis Arraez was intentionally walked. Tatis hit a ball off Jason Foley (3-5) to left field, scoring Merrill and making it 1-0.
Jeremiah Estrada (5-2) pitched a scoreless 10th inning as San Diego (80-61) held a half-game lead over Arizona for the National League's first wild-card berth. The Los Angeles Dodgers are also 4.5 games behind in the National League West after losing 10-1 to the Los Angeles Angels.
Tatis had two hits in his second game back after missing more than two months with a stress reaction in his right leg. Another high-profile Padres prospect, Yu Darvish, returned to the mound for his first game in more than three months.
Darvish, making his first start since May 29, was quick but inaccurate. Matt Vierling tagged his two-out solo homer in Game 1, his 16th of the year.
Detroit moved within 2-0 in the second inning on Dillon Dingler's RBI grounder, then added an RBI double to right in the third inning from Colt Keith. A single scored again. Darvish was caught after 2 2/3 innings and 63 pitches. He gave up four hits and three runs, walked two and struck out four.
Trey Sweeney hit a two-run homer off Yuki Matsui's second in the fourth to give the Tigers a 5-0 lead. But starter Keider Montero was held back by two big swings.
In Game 4 at San Diego, Merrill ambushed the first-pitch fastball and hit it about 372 feet into the left-center field seats for his 22nd home run with two runners on base. One inning later, Manny Machado tied the game at five with a two-run single to left.
Montero left after 4 1/3 innings, seven hits and five runs. He took two steps and fanned twice.
Detroit (70-70) trails Kansas City by 5 1/2 games for the American League's third wild-card spot.
–Scene-level media
