SAN DIEGO _ Fernando Tatis Jr. is putting up MVP numbers and putting baseball on alert he might rewrite a portion of the record books.
The 21-year-old with the golden dreadlocks does so many special things on close to a daily basis, it might not be enough (or entirely accurate) to call his feats special anymore.
A night after hitting the first pitch in the bottom of the first inning into the left field seats at Petco Park, Tatis waited until the second pitch to do so Saturday.
He also homered in the eighth inning, giving him seven on the season. Only the New York Yankees' Aaron Judge, with eight, has more.
But while the boy wonder at the top of the order has reached base in every game this season and has an extra-base hit in six straight games, the Padres are only left to wonder when the veterans in the middle of their order will provide some significant support.
Two of the Padres who are supposed to be capable of carrying a team continued in Saturday night's game to do the opposite, and the San Diego Padres fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2 at Petco Park.
Manny Machado is batting .193 (11-for-57) with a .636 OPS (on-base-plus-slugging percentage). Tommy Pham is batting .236 (13-for-55) with a .653 OPS.
The Padres (8-7) know they can't keep going like this, or they won't continue winning more often than losing.
"We've won some games without them being hot," manager Jayce Tingler said. "... We're obviously a better offensive team when they're clicking on all cylinders. Sometimes right now, some things aren't going their way. That can shift as early as tomorrow."
Pham grounded out to shortstop, albeit at 101.6 mph, with Machado on second base in the first inning. Machado got to second with a double that was his first hit in 13 at-bats.
Machado came up in the third inning with runners at the corners and one out and grounded into a double play, this one at 115 mph.
The Diamondbacks tied the game in the top of the fourth on Starling Marte's double (the first hit of the night off Chris Paddack), a groundout to second and a sacrifice fly by Stephen Vogt.
Marte put the Diamondbacks up 2-1 with a solo home run to left field leading off the sixth inning. A two-out homer to right field by Vogt came on Paddack's 95th and final pitch.
Paddack (2-1) lost to the Diamondbacks for the first time in five career starts.
Arizona starter Merrill Kelly (2-1) recovered from his second pitch getting hit 394 feet to make it through six innings on just 77 pitches.
Trent Grisham lined a one-out single to center field in the sixth, but Kelly got out of the inning when Machado grounded into his second double play of the game and fourth of the season, which is tied for the major league lead.
Pham got his second hit in five games (19 at-bats) by beating out a dribbler to the left side leading off the seventh inning. That was the fifth hit off Kelly, and it ended his night. Pham was standing at first base when the seventh inning ended, as Andrew Chafin got three straight outs.
The ninth inning started with Machado flying out to right field. Pham followed with his first walk in 21 plate appearances before Eric Hosmer lined out to right and Wil Myers lined out to left.
The Padres entered Saturday's game two games above .500 without Hosmer for all but three games due to gastritis and without Machado and Pham doing much for large portions of most games. Hosmer returned Saturday and was 0-for-4.
Tingler suggested the other night that Machado and Pham were pressing. Saturday afternoon, he expressed confidence in the two hitters who have career numbers to suggest they will eventually heat up.
"We're off to an OK start," Tingler said. "Truthfully, we know Manny and Pham haven't gotten hot. It seems like we've gone _ with Hosmer on 10-day (IL) _ a lot of times (without production from) our 3-4-5 hitters. That's the most encouraging thing going forward, coming off the off-day and knowing these guys are going to at some point get hot and get going. That's all we're looking forward to. ... Guys with talent, guys that work, historically that turns, and usually once it turns they're able to hold the hot stretch for a while. We believe that's going to happen. My guess is it happens sooner rather than later."
There is hope, certainly, in the numbers. Machado and Pham have accomplished more at the plate than most major leaguers. And as often as not, they are not going down meekly this season.
Machado, who brought a .818 career OPS into 2020, has hit at least one ball with an exit velocity of 100 mph in all but four games. Pham, who came into '20 with an .840 career OPS, entered Saturday with an average exit velocity of 92.5 mph this season, second on the team behind Tatis' league-leading 97.1 mph.
Questioned last week about his need to step up further, especially with Hosmer out of the lineup, Machado deferred.
"The best thing about baseball is it takes all 30 of us to win a ballgame," he said. "Not just one person can win it. ... It's a ballclub. It takes every single player in that clubhouse to win a ballgame. There's always going to be one hero one day. The next day it might be a team."
Saturday, it was only Tatis.
