SAN DIEGO — The crowd noise that had been building at Petco Park on Thursday afternoon rose to full-on applause as Fernando Tatis Jr. jogged to center field to stretch. It was the first time a sellout home crowd had laid eyes on a San Diego Padres team assembled to take a serious run at a World Series in quite a while.
It didn’t mind waiting six innings for something to really cheer for.
The Padres were just getting started, too, when Fernando Tatis Jr. spoiled Wade Miley’s no-hit bid with a sixth-inning homer.
Manny Machado added a solo homer of his own, Eric Hosmer re-tied the game with a two-run homer after Mark Melancon blew a save and Victor Caratini walked off a 6-4 win with a two-run homer in front of a sellout crowd of 40,362.
Hosmer’s blast arrived after Machado led off the ninth with a walk, sending Petco Park into a frenzy a half-inning after Jonathan India’s two-run homer with two out replaced cheers with the first boos of the night.
Jake Cronenworth followed with a single off new reliever Amir Garrett and Caratini gave the Padres just their fifth win in 16 games this month with a homer to left.
The owner of an MLB-leading 19 saves, Melancon had been one out away from preserving the win when Stephenson lofted a single to center to fight back from an 0-2 hole.
Melancon allowed four hits in two-thirds of an inning before he was pulled for Pierce Johnson.
After a 1-5 road trip through New York and Colorado, the Padres had hoped a return to a full Petco Park would help right their ship.
“A chance for us to start over a little bit and be able to have our home crowd behind us,” Padres manager Jayce Tingler said of the opportunity to play in front of a sellout crowd at home for the first time since the pandemic forced baseball to shut its gates to fans last year. “ … We’ve played in some full stadiums on the road (this year). I know the guys feel this way and the staff feels this way, you feel like it’s an advantage when you have your home crowd behind you. Tonight, this opportunity, this homestand and these home games going forward, we’re going to have that with us.”
One reason they’d lost 11 of 15 this month: They were averaging 3.07 runs per game in June, the worst mark in the majors.
They’d also lost 14 of 22 since the end of a nine-game winning streak played entirely in front of a COVID-19 limited crowd at Petco Park in May.
That, of course, was a significant step up after the “Slam Diego” phenomenon took root in front of empty seats in 2020 as fans were forced to watch the Padres clinch their first playoff berth in 14 years on TV, from the balconies of neighboring high-rises or through the fences outside Gallagher Square.
“Feeling them outside the stadium, hearing them in the city,” Tingler said of the hometown presence before Petco Park returned to full capacity. “I stay downtown, and so (I’ve been) hearing them after wins, whether it was last year or this year. Now that we are at full capacity, we have to go out and play our baseball. (If) we do that, this is a passionate group of fans.
“They love baseball, but what they want to see is winning baseball.”
While the Padres had nothing to show for the first five innings, they were locked in a 0-0 tie because right-hander Joe Musgrove had at least matched Miley in the column that matters most.
That wasn’t a surprise.
The San Diego-native threw the majors’ first no-hitter of the year in April, roughly a month before Miley spun his no-no at Cleveland.
Musgrove worked a bit harder to keep the Reds off the board, scattering four hits and three walks while striking out a season-low two batters. His defense did some of the heavy lifting before Tatis’ and Machado’s blasts, with Hosmer starting a double play to erase India’s single to lead off the game and Machado making a handful of plays while shifted into shallow right field.
Machado was even a few steps short of adding another highlight reel play on the warning track in right field, where he nearly hauled in a fly ball off the bat of Jesse Winker with one out in the eighth.
The sellout crowd appreciated the effort, serenading him with “Manny! Manny!” at a decibel that rivaled the MVP chants after Tatis’ sixth-inning homer.
At that point, the crowd was begging for anything to cheer.
Miley hadn’t allowed a single hit and had scattered walks to Tatis and Cronenworth through the first five innings when Tatis ambushed a first-pitch cutter and arched it just beyond the wall in left-center — a 40-degree, 108-mph rainmaker.
“MVP” chants followed the homer and rose again in the eighth before Tatis — now tied for the MLB lead with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with 22 homers — struck out to end his night at the plate.
Machado’s blast in the seventh inning off Miley was a more traditional no-doubter: An 111 mph liner into the second deck in left, a projected 433 feet from the plate.
It was Machado’s 10th of the season and his fourth in his last 12 games after a lukewarm start to the year.
Back-to-back singles from Caratini and pinch-hitter Jurickson Profar finally chased Miley in the eighth.
Miley struck out five, walked two and allowed four hits in seven-plus innings.
