SAN DIEGO — Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a go-ahead, two-run home run with two outs in the eighth — two innings after the Padres scored seven runs — and San Diego stunned the Chicago Cubs9-8 Monday night.
On the 20th anniversary of the first Padres game at Petco Park, Tatis exuberantly celebrated the moment that fully erased an 8-0 deficit. He held his bat out with his left arm as he watched the ball sail into the left-field seats, flipped it, hollered and pumped his fists as he started his trot. He was wearing custom cleats honoring the late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. Rookie Jackson Merrill was aboard on a leadoff walk off Adbert Alzolay (1-1).
“It was amazing. But all credit to the boys,” Tatis said. “We were down 8-0, and we were never out of the game. We kept building, we kept taking good at-bats against tough pitches. The boys started executing. We started moving the line, we kept believing in each other and that was just the final blow.”
The win tied the Padres’ largest comeback in franchise history. The other three games they won after trailing by eight runs: May 23, 1970, at the San Francisco Giants; June 10, 1974, versus the Pittsburgh Pirates; and July 8, 2021, versus the Washington Nationals.
The Cubs, meanwhile, entered Monday having won 234 consecutive games they led by eight or more runs. Their last such loss came on June 28, 2002, at the Chicago White Sox.
In conjunction with his branding company Xample, Tatis plans to unveil 50 pairs of custom cleats this season. His choice for Monday night, featuring different designs on each cleat, honored Gwynn, known as Mr. Padre, who played his entire 20-season career in San Diego. Gwynn died in 2014 at age 54.
“Definitely the shoes,” Tatis said with a laugh. “The power came from above. Always grateful. Definitely a little bit inspired today. I’m going to keep playing with them. Hopefully, they keep sending good luck. Just happy I was wearing those shoes today.”
As Padres manager Mike Shildt said, “It was a big homer. Impressive. Impressive guy. Real proud of him.”
Tatis slammed into the wall in right after just missing Dansby Swanson‘s two-run triple in the fourth that gave the Cubs an 8-0 lead.
Shildt said Tatis came up to him in the dugout and said, “Man, just a game of inches.”
“I said, ‘Yeah, sometimes things don’t work out and we’ve got to keep fighting.’ This was when it was 8-0,” the manager explained, “and he said, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to keep fighting,’ and he patted me on the back.”
Cubs right-hander Javier Assad, who grew up across the border, in Tijuana, took a two-hit shutout and an 8-0 lead into the sixth before the Padres pulled within a run in the sixth that was highlighted by two-run homers by Jake Cronenworth and Xander Bogaerts. The Padres had five hits, a walk and an error that inning.
Assad allowed a leadoff walk to Tatis before being chased by Cronenworth’s two-run homer — his first of the season — to right. Jose Cuas came on for Chicago, and the next three Padres batters reached, starting with Manny Machado on an error by shortstop Swanson that made three of the runs unearned. Ha-Seong Kim smacked a two-run triple, and Luis Campusano hit an RBI grounder. Bogaerts capped the scoring with a two-run shot off Luke Little for his first homer of the campaign. Tatis flied out to right to end the inning.
Assad allowed two runs and three hits, with seven strikeouts and three walks.
San Diego’s Yu Darvish, who pitched for the Cubs from 2018 to 2020, threw 42 pitches in the second inning, when the Cubs scored four runs on three hits, two walks and a hit batter. Darvish twice loaded the bases, and Ian Happ and Cody Bellinger each hit a two-run single.
Darvish got through a quick third inning but was done for the night after allowing four runs and four hits while striking out four and walking three. It was just the 10th time in 281 career starts, including the postseason, that Darvish went three or fewer innings.
The Cubs then jumped on Pedro Avila for four more runs in the fourth. After the Cubs loaded the bases with one out, Bellinger hit a sacrifice fly, Christopher Morel hit an RBI double and Swanson tripled in two more.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored on a laser of a shot off a faceoff, Logan Thompson made some spectacular saves among his 28, and the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 5 of their first-round series Wednesday night to advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
It’s the Capitals’ first series win since capturing the Stanley Cup in 2018, and they clinched at home for the first time since 2015. They face the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round with a spot in the Eastern Conference finals at stake.
Ovechkin led the way with his power-play goal 11 minutes in, setting off chants of “Ovi! Ovi!” from the juiced-up crowd. Pierre-Luc Dubois delivered a perfect pass to Jakob Chychrun, who beat Jakub Dobes just over two minutes later. Tom Wilson provided a valuable insurance goal late in the second period.
Fans expressed their appreciation for Thompson with chants of “LT! LT!” when he turned aside Kaiden Guhle on a 3-on-1 rush and with under two minutes left when he flashed his glove to rob Nick Suzuki with Dobes pulled for an extra attacker. Brandon Duhaime sealed it with an empty-netter with 25.6 seconds left.
Thompson was at his best at the start, when the Canadiens came out with the desperation expected from a team facing elimination, and in the third period, when they pressed and tilted the ice toward him. Much like the final minutes of Game 2, Washington’s No. 1 goaltender kept the puck out of the net in crucial situations to pave the way to a victory — sometimes getting his masked head in the way of shots.
The Capitals asserted their dominance in the East’s 1 versus 8 series a year after getting swept as the underdog in it by the New York Rangers. Banged up and without top goalie Sam Montembeault and scoring winger Patrik Laine, the Canadiens got a goal from Emil Heineman but ultimately ran out of steam after going on a tear down the stretch late in the regular season to be the last team to qualify for the playoffs.
Carolina and Washington will meet in the playoffs for the first time since 2019. The Hurricanes won that series in seven games on a goal in double overtime.
TAMPA, Fla. — Eetu Luostarinen had a goal and three assists to lead the Panthers to a 6-3 Game 5 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning as Florida moved into the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The Panthers will play the winner of the Maple Leafs–Senators series, which Toronto currently leads 3-2.
Nick Paul, Gage Goncalves and Jake Guentzel scored for Tampa Bay. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 25 saves. Since advancing to three consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances from 2020-22, the Lightning have lost in the first round for the past three seasons. Tampa Bay fell to 1-9 in the past 10 home playoff games.
Bennett scored with 4:47 left in the second period just six seconds after he came out of the penalty box, finishing off a 2-on-1 chance and beating Vasilevskiy to the far post on the stick side to lift the Panthers to a 4-3 lead. The Panthers have now won 22 straight playoff games when leading after two periods.
Tampa Bay scored the opening goal for the first time in the series when Goncalves scored 2:33 into the game. But Florida answered with a power-play goal from Verhaeghe at 5:21 and Lundell redirected a Brad Marchand pass at 10:06.
Paul pulled the Lightning even at 12:16 of the first with his second goal of the series.
Barkov tipped a Gustav Forsling shot 52 seconds into the second to put Florida back in front before Guentzel snapped an 0-for-16 power play slump for Tampa Bay at 9:57.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
PITTSBURGH — An unidentified male fan fell from the 21-foot Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park during Wednesday night’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs.
Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track.
The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates’ and Cubs’ training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart.
The team issued a statement shortly after the game ended, saying the man was transported to Allegheny General Hospital. No further details were given.
Pirates manager Derek Shelton and Cubs manager Craig Counsell both alerted the umpire crew of the situation immediately after the play.
“Even though it’s 350 feet away or whatever it is, I mean the fact of how it went down and then laying motionless while the play is going on, I mean Craig saw it, I saw it. We both got out there,” Shelton said. “I think the umpires saw it because of the way it kicked. It’s extremely unfortunate. That’s an understatement.”
Players from both teams could be seen praying, and McCutchen held a cross that hung from his neck while the fan was taken off the field. The game was paused for several minutes while the man was tended to but there was no official stoppage in play.
Fans have died from steep falls at baseball stadiums.
In 2015, Atlanta Braves season-ticket holder Gregory K. Murrey flipped over guard rails from the upper deck at Turner Field. That was four years after Shannon Stone, a firefighter attending a game with his 6-year-old son, fell about 20 feet after reaching out for a foul ball tossed into the stands at the Texas Rangers‘ former stadium.
Both incidents prompted scrutiny over the height of guard rails at stadiums. The Rangers raised theirs, and the Braves settled a lawsuit with Murrey’s family.
A spectator at a 2022 NFL game at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium died after a fall on an escalator.