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Padres storm back on Cubs to remain perfect at home

Published

9 months ago

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Padres storm back on Cubs to remain perfect at home


The pitching staff’s scoreless streak wasn’t going to go on and on and on. The Padres are not going to win every home game this season, either.

That’s what logic says.

But there’s something else powering Mike Shildt’s team these days.

“Every night they bring it,” the Padres’ second-year manager said. “They’re hungry. The preparation has been really good. The execution has been equal. Everybody’s on board, not giving anything away in competition and ready to take everything.”

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Really.

Everything.

A freshly-shaven Dylan Cease buckled, the Chicago Cubs halted the staff’s scoreless streak at 37 innings … and the Padres still battled back for a 10-4 win on Monday to remain perfect at home in front of a crowd 47,078, the third-largest in Petco Park history.

It had quite a lot to cheer, from Fernando Tatis Jr.’s first multi-homer game of the season, to nine runs over the final three innings, to an 11-0 home record that’s propped up baseball’s best team to start 2025. That’s tied for the fifth-longest streak at home to ever start a season. The 1907 New York Giants hold the record with 15 straight wins.

“The crowd on your side is totally huge,” Tatis said after the Padres improved to 14-3 to match the 1998 NL pennant-winner for the best start in franchise history. “It feeds us. It’s great momentum for us. Everybody can see it and feel it. Everybody that is here.

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“Happy to play in front of San Diego fans.”

Clearly.

Tatis’ third home run in four days since his shoulder scare plated Monday’s run. It would have been much cleaner to say his second blast of the game bookended the comeback, but Luis Arraez followed Tatis’ eighth-inning homer with the three-time batting champ’s second home run of the year and Jose Iglesias added an RBI groundout to cap the Padres’ third-straight multi-run inning.

In between all that, the Padres nickeled and dimed their way to their second win over the NL Central-leading Cubs in four meetings.

Infield singles from Iglesias and Jason Heyward tied the game at 3-3 in the sixth, a wild-pitch with the bases loaded gave the Padres a lead in the seventh and Gavin Sheets’ two-run single added insurance.

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“They’re a machine right now,” Cease said. “I’s impressive to watch. They’re very resilient, and it just feels like we’re always one guy away from scoring three or four runs. It’s really impressive.”

Jason Adam replaced Adrián Morejón in the eighth and coughed up a run to snap the bullpen’s scoreless streak at 10 innings, but Elias Díaz walked to lead off the bottom of the inning and Tatis logged his third triple-digit exit velocity of the game.

First, Tatis sent a 100-mph lineout to third. Then he sent a 108-mph homer over the wall in left off Cubs starter Jameson Taillon (5⅔ IP, 2 ER). The two-run homer off reliever Eli Morgan to left center in the eighth went out on a 111-mph line, providing more and more confidence in the surgically repaired shoulder that forced him from last Tuesday’s game in Sacramento.

“Feels good,” Tatis said with a smile. “In the right place and keep working. Like I’ve said, the training staff is doing a great job and I’m happy I’m on the field.”

Following three straight shutouts of the Rockies, Cease ran the team’s scoreless streak to 37 innings — three shy of the 1984 team record — before Manny Machado cracked the door open in the fourth inning by booting Justin Turner’s leadoff grounder.

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Michael Busch followed with a home run to right to immediately erase the advantage provided on Tatis’ solo homer half-inning earlier. Two more doubles that inning, one from Nico Hoerner and one from Pete Crow-Armstrong, pushed the Cubs’ lead to 3-0.

Cease stranded two runners in the fifth inning and exited an inning later after Hoerner’s third hit of the game, a single with two outs in the sixth.

He was coming off a career-high nine runs allowed in his last start against the A’s in Sacramento. Two days later, he showed up in the Padres’ clubhouse at Petco Park looking to flush that start along with every single whisker from the mountain-man growth he carried into the season.

So Monday’s start was certainly better.

Cease struck out six and was charged with three runs — two earned — on seven hits and a walk over 5⅔ innings after Alek Jacob stranded an inherited runner in the sixth.

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“I’m very happy I gave us a chance to win,” Cease said after throwing 63 of his 96 pitches for strikes. “I still think there’s a lot of room for improvement, but it was definitely an improvement from the last one.”

The game-tying rally a half-inning after Cease’s exit began with Machado’s one-out walk. Then Sheets’ high fly ball fell in front of left fielder Ian Happ for a single, Xander Bogaerts walked to load the bases and Iglesias’ swinging bunt plated a run and kept the bases loaded.

Heyward followed with a single off shortstop Dansby Swanson’s glove as he attempted a diving stop behind second base, tying the game at 3-3.

The Padres weren’t done.

Tatis walked to lead off the seventh, Arraez doubled down the first-base line and an intentional walk of Machado loaded the bases for Sheets.

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That brought the sold-out crowd to a fever pitch as it chanted “Holy Sheets! Holy Sheets!” but a wild pitch somewhat robbed him of a moment as Tatis scampered home.

Sheets still came through with a two-run single to push his RBI total to 10.

“We just keep showing where we’re capable of as a team, as a lineup, as a defense, and I’m just happy for the boys,” Tatis said. “Everybody’s on track, everybody’s moving the line. It’s really good baseball.”

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San Diego, CA

Padres roster review: Sung-Mun song

Published

4 hours ago

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January 6, 2026

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Padres roster review: Sung-Mun song





Padres roster review: Sung-Mun song – San Diego Union-Tribune


















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SUNG-MUN SONG

  • Position(s): Third base, second base
  • Bats / Throws: Left / Right
  • 2026 opening day age: 29
  • Height / Weight: 6-foot / 194 pounds
  • How acquired: Signed as a free agent in December 2025
  • Contract status: A four-year, $15 million deal will see Song make $2.5 million in 2026, $3 million in 2027, $3.5 million in 2028 and $4 million in 2029 if he does not opt out of last year; Half of his $1 million signing bonus is due in January 2026 and the other half in 2027; There is a $7 million mutual option for 2030.
  • fWAR in 2025: N/A
  • Key 2025 stats (KBO): .315 AVG, .387 OBP, .530 SLG, 26 HRs, 90 RBIs, 103 runs, 68 walks, 96 strikeouts, 25 steals (144 games, 646 plate appearances)

 

STAT TO NOTE

  • .214 — Song’s isolated power in 2025, a career high as he prepared for a jump to the majors. Isolated power measures a player’s raw power (extra bases per at-bat) and Song had a .190 OPS in 2018, in his third year as a pro in Korea, before it dropped to .101 in 2019 and then a career-low .095 in 2023. Hitting 19 homers pushed Song’s isolated power to .178 in 2024 and then a career-high 26 homers push it even higher in 2025.

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San Diego, CA

Poway removes hundreds of trees to make city safer

Published

16 hours ago

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January 5, 2026

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Poway removes hundreds of trees to make city safer


Drivers traveling through the city of Poway may have noticed a dramatic change to the landscape. Since September, more than 1,400 trees — many of them eucalyptus — have been removed as part of the city’s hazardous mitigation grant project aimed at reducing wildfire risk and improving public safety.

Poway is spending roughly $3 million on the effort, which focuses on removing trees that are dead, dying or considered dangerous. Much of the cost is being reimbursed by FEMA. Officials say the project is designed to make emergency evacuation routes safer while improving the overall health of trees along major roadways, rights-of-way and open spaces.

“I was relieved that there were some efforts being put into improving our resiliency to wildfire in our community,” said Poway Fire Chief Brian Mitchell.

Mitchell said spacing out trees can slow the spread of a wildfire and prevent roads from becoming blocked during an emergency.

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“That certainly has the potential to block our first responders from accessing somebody’s house in the middle of an emergency,” Mitchell said.

City leaders also point to storm safety as a key reason for removing hazardous trees under controlled conditions rather than risking falling limbs or entire trees during severe weather.

“I don’t want to be driving down that street and just a random limb just happened to collapse, you know, just hit me,” said Poway resident Dawn Davis.

Davis said she also worries about the threat the trees pose to nearby homes.

“I don’t want anybody’s homes here to be damaged, either by them or fire,” Davis said.

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A Poway spokeswoman said a certified arborist evaluated nearly 6,800 trees in Poway. About 2,800 invasive trees were recommended for removal.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication.



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San Diego, CA

Aztecs land twin transfers from Michigan State to bolster offensive line

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1 day ago

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January 5, 2026

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Aztecs land twin transfers from Michigan State to bolster offensive line


The front of the Fowler Athletic Center at San Diego State includes a pair of double doors that open from the inside out. Replacing them with revolving doors would seem appropriate, given all the comings and goings nowadays.

SDSU had two dozen football players — including five starters on the defense — enter the NCAA transfer portal, which opened Friday. The first wave of candidates to replace them visited over the weekend.

And by Sunday afternoon, SDSU announced its first two signings. It was a package deal.

Sophomore offensive linemen Charlton and Mercer Luniewski are Michigan State transfers from Cincinnati. And twins.

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Charlton Luniewski’s social media says that he goes by “Big Chuck,” although Mercer is listed as an inch taller and 13 pounds heavier at 6-foot-6, 320. Mercer is also, by the way, 45 minutes older.

Charlton profiles at guard and Mercer at tackle, though SDSU typically works players in multiple spots to find the ideal fit. The twins are expected to challenge for spots on the two-deep if not the starting O-line, which lost three starters to graduation.

The twins were highly recruited two years ago out of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, where they also competed in track and basketball. They have three years of eligibility remaining.

The Luniewskis were among a dozen transfer recruits who visited SDSU over the weekend. Commitments have come from half of them. More recruits are scheduled for the coming this week as the Aztecs look to replenish the roster.

SDSU also received a commitment Sunday from Nate Henrich, a 6-6 edge from Division II Gannon University in Pennsylvania. Henrich had six tackles at Gannon, but he is viewed as having high upside with good size and length. He could provide needed depth at a position where the Aztecs lost four players to the portal.

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SDSU also expects commitments from Oregon State edge Kai Wallin, Portland State safety Isaiah Green and College of the Sequoias wide receiver Marshel Sanders.

Wallin is a 6-5 senior from Sacramento who played in nine games this season (seven starts) for the Beavers, making 17 tackles with one sack and four quarterback hurries. Green, a 6-1 junior from Oxnard, had a team-high 101 tackles at Portland State. Sanders is a 5-11 junior from Fresno who had 70 receptions for 929 yards and four touchdowns.

Bostick back

SDSU wide receiver Jacob Bostick announced on his social media Sunday that he is returning for the 2026 season.

His post read, in part: “Excited to get back to work with my coaches and teammates.”

Bostick had 11 catches for 157 yards and three touchdowns over six games before suffering a season-ending knee injury during practice six games into the season. He anticipates being ready to return by fall camp.

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