Padres rally late, open Mexico City Series with win over Diamondbacks
MEXICO CITY - The Padres are in the midst of a stretch in which they can hardly hit.
Anywhere.
Not even in the mountains.
But they are showing they know how to win.
The Padres' seventh comeback victory - and fifth from a deficit of four or more runs - came Saturday against the Diamondbacks when they scored four runs in the seventh inning and held on to win, 6-4.
Down 4-1 when the seventh inning began, the Padres scored four times on two walks, a single, an error, a hit batter and two sacrifice flies.
It was the 10th time this season they won a game by scoring the deciding run in the final three innings. That is over half their victories, as their 18-8 record stands as second best in the major leagues.
The Diamondbacks scored all four of their runs in the second inning against Germán Márquez, who then pitched through the sixth.
Adrian Morejón worked a scoreless seventh and Jason Adam a scoreless eighth before Mason Miller retired all three batters he faced in the ninth to earn his 10th save and set a franchise record by extending his scoreless streak to 34 2/3 innings.
The Padres' only run in the first six innings came on a home run by Ty France in the fifth off Brandon Pfaadt, who had taken over for starter Zac Gallen, who departed following the third inning shortly after being hit by a line drive.
Pfaadt was on the mound at the start of the seventh, though not for long. He departed after walking Jackson Merrill, surrendering a single by Manny Machado and walking Xander Bogaerts.
Right-hander Taylor Clarke came in, and Gavin Sheets greeted him with a single to right field that scored Merrill and Machado.
France followed with a grounder up the middle that might have been a double play had Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo not dropped the ball as he went to dish it to second baseman Ildemaro Vargas.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, Freddy Fermin's fly ball to left field drove in Bogaerts. Jake Cronenworth then took a slider off his foot to re-load the bases, and Ramón Laureano's deep fly ball to right field scored Sheets.
France hit his second homer in the ninth inning, and the Padres finished with six hits, one fewer than the Diamondbacks.
On the heels of an 11-game stretch in which they averaged six runs a game and hit .274 with an .811 OPS as a team, they are batting .213 with a .622 OPS and averaging 3.7 runs over their past seven games.
And three of those were played in the mile-high air of Denver, where they hit only at the end of a 10-8 victory on Thursday.
Saturday's game was played in a ballpark at an elevation 2,400 feet higher than Coors Field and where three years earlier the Padres scored 22 runs and had 27 hits in two games.
They have fixed the humidor at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú since the first game here, when the Padres and Giants hit 11 home runs between them in a 16-11 Padres victory. And they replaced the turf, which in 2023 played like cement.
But it is still 7,350 feet above sea level.
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This story was originally published April 25, 2026 at 9:42 PM.