SAN DIEGO _ Franmil Reyes hits 'em long. He hits 'em tall. Mostly, he hits 'em where they're pitched.
On Tuesday that meant yanking a slider 442 feet to left-center. On Wednesday, the San Diego Padres' 6-foot-5, 275-pound specimen stroked a 96 mph fastball on the outside corner and clanged it high off the foul pole in right, the rookie's third home run in as many games in the Padres' 3-2 walk-off win over the Miami Marlins.
"I told you someday I was going to make the adjustment," Reyes said after hitting his fourth home run in his last seven games. "I feel so great and comfortable at the plate."
It's showing in more ways than one.
In fact, it was Reyes' lead-off walk against Marlins closer Brad Ziegler that cracked the door open for a game-winning rally.
Freddy Galvis doubled with one out, Ziegler intentionally walked Manuel Margot to load the bases and two runs scored when third baseman Miguel Rojas threw wildly to first on Hunter Renfroe's pinch-hit tapper to the grass left of the mound.
"The Franmil walk was huge," Padres manager Andy Green said. "Franmil was big all day. Another opposite-field home run and the walk to lead that inning off. ... A lot of big guys get up and they want to tie the game with one swing of the bat. His patience was huge."
His power is even bigger.
And it's starting to play.
The owner of 14 homers in 36 games at Triple-A El Paso, Reyes needed seven games to log his first big league homer to right-center in Washington. He added one in each of the first two games of this homestand _ both left of center field.
Presented with Jose Urena's 3-2 fastball on the outside corner in his second at-bat Wednesday, Reyes lifted it high into the San Diego sky _ a 40-degree launch angle if you're into those StatCast numbers _ before it clanged off the right-field foul pole as he joined Christian Villanueva as the second Padres rookie this year to homer in three straight games.
"Before the game I was watching video," Reyes said. "He uses a lot of sinkers inside and back-door sinkers. When I missed the first at-bat, the line drive to left field, I told myself he's not going to do it again. If he's going to come with a fastball he's going to do it with the backdoor. I prepared for it. It was the pitch I was looking for and I put a good swing on it."
Reyes' power surge has left him with a .756 OPS despite his .200 batting average to start his career.
Padres starter Clayton Richard opened the game with 10 straight outs. He closed his appearance with three scoreless innings.
In between, a momentary lapse was what the Marlins needed to build a lead off Richard.
The uprising started innocently enough when J.T. Realmuto singled sharply back up the middle with one out in the fourth. Then Richard grooved a 3-2 fastball that Starlin Castro drilled 422 feet to center field for a 2-0 lead, the only damage in Richard's fourth quality start in his last five trips to the mound.
The 34-year-old left-hander struck out five, scattered four hits and a walk and was lifted for a pinch-hitter after seven innings after Manuel Margot's two-out double moved the tying run 180 feet from the plate.
But Jose Pirela was called out on strikes, pushing the Padres to 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position before the game-winning rally.
Urena allowed only Reyes' blast while scattering three hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out six.
