CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – APRIL 6: Jackson Merrill #3 of the San Diego Padres celebrates scoring and tying the game during the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on April 6, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)
Padres manager Mike Shildt summed up Sunday's series finale at Wrigley Field in a familiar way that's become all too accurate:
"Grit Squad in effect."
It had to be on a truly wild one at the Friendly Confines. After dropping the first 2 games of their first road series of the season, the Padres fell behind the Cubs 7-3 and a sweep was looking imminent. Then their bullpen went back into lockdown mode, their offense started clicking, and in the end they had themselves an 8-7 win.
The road to that win was filled with more twists and turns than a season of Sherlock.
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San Diego scored three times in the 1st inning despite not hitting even one ball out of the infield. Jake Cronenworth was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Xander Bogaerts beat out an infield RBI single, and Jason Heyward drew a bases loaded walk. It wasn't your traditional way to score three runs, but it was tame in comparison to what happened in the bottom of the 1st.
Kyle Hart, making his second Padres start, had all kinds of trouble finding the strike zone. He walked the first two hitters of the game before giving up an RBI single to Kyle Tucker, and things got even worse from there. A double by Nico Hoerner (on a ground ball that Bogaerts probably should have kept on the infield but was not given an error for) and two more walks tied it up 3-3 and Hart's day was done after just two-thirds of an inning. The lefty threw 39 pitches, only 18 for strikes.
In came Logan Gillaspie, who was just added to the roster before the game, with the bases loaded looking for just one more out. Before he could do that, he was called for a pair of balks, bringing in two runs without a ball being put in play and putting Chicago on top 5-3.
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Gillaspie ended up going 4.0 innings and allowing two runs on a Tucker homer that gave the Cubbies a 7-3 advantage. That's when Shildt's Grit Squad showed up.
In the 4th inning Manny Machado singled and Jackson Merrill ripped a 2-run homer to centerfield off Cubs starter Ben Brown to cut the deficit to 7-5. In the 5th inning Arraez singled, the second of his four hits, to plate Elias Diaz and make it a one-run game.
The Friars tied it in the 8th when Merrill walked, stole 2nd base, and scored on a Gavin Sheets RBI single. All the while, the high-leverage bullpen arms were fantastic. Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada, and Jason Adam combined for 3.1 innings of shutout ball, setting the stage for the 9th inning.
With two runners on and one out Machado hit a grounder to shortstop. It should have been an inning-ending double play. But 1st baseman Justin Turner, who spent years tormenting the Friars when he was with the Dodgers, just dropped the relay throw. His error allowed Tatis Jr. to race home with the go-ahead run and the way Robert Suarez is throwing, it was game over.
The flamethrowing closer struck out a pair in a perfect inning for his 4th save of the season, avoiding a sweep and moving the Padres to 8-2 to start the season. They head to West Sacramento for a 3-game series with the A's starting Monday night.
