Elias Díaz hasn’t hit much this year.
He has, however, hit a bit more of late.
The Padres’ light-hitting catcher provided some insurance in another tight game on Tuesday night, doubling in two runs in the seventh inning as the floodgates finally opened in a game the Padres led 7-1 in front of a sellout crowd of 45,088.
Díaz’s two-run double added on in a game in which the Padres bunted their way to a run in the first inning and had a lucky-hop triple give them a 2-1 lead in the sixth. Before the seventh inning was over, Manny Machado had hit a three-run homer to give the bullpen some breathing room.
Jose Iglesias and Jake Cronenworth strung together back-to-back singles to open the seventh and Díaz pulled a one-out grounder inside the third base line to plate both runners.
A day earlier, Díaz drove in two runs on two hits, including the walk-off single in the 10th inning. He also plated a run on Sunday with a sacrifice bunt, giving him an RBI in three straight games for his longest streak since driving in a run in four straight games in May 2024.
The 34-year-old catcher entered the game hitting .200/.268/.302.
Jackson Merrill hit a 96 mph ball into the dirt just up the first base line in the sixth inning and the ensuing hop eluding a leaping Pete Alonso and rattled into the right field corner, allowing Luis Arraez to score from first with two outs for a 2-1 lead.
Rookie right-hander Bergert lowered his ERA to 2.78 with another solid effort. It was, of course, another effort with a tight lease on him as he has pitched into the sixth inning just twice in seven starts and on Tuesday was pulled from the game with the bases loaded in the fifth inning.
The traffic mounted a bit surprisingly given how easily the 25-year-old rookie navigated the first four frames.
Bergert struck out the first two batters he faced, including boyhood hero Francisco Lindor to end 12-pitch at-bat. He allowed just two hits, one in the second and one in the third and then one in the fifth after Brett Baty walked to open the frame.
Bergert then innings his fourth walk of the game, to Brandon Nimmo, to load the bases and fetch Padres manager Mike Shildt from the dugout.
Berget’s night was suddenly over after 83 pitches.
Jeremiah Estrada struck out Lindor for the first out in relief of Bergert, but pinch-hitter Starling Marte’s ensuing fly ball to right center was deep enough to tie the game ahead of a throw from Fernando Tatis Jr., who stepped in front of Jackson Merrill to attempt to make the play at the plate.
Estrada then got Peteo Alonso to pop out to end the inning.
Perhaps there would have been a bit of slack in the leash had the Padres pounced on Mets left-hander Sean Manaea early.
Instead, they opted to attempt to bunt their way to runs.
The first bunt of the night led to a run.
Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the game with a single, moved to second on Luis Arraez’s sacrifice, scampered to third on Manny Machado’s fly ball to center and scored on Jackson Merrill’s single to center.
The next inning, an even bigger rally loomed when Jose Iglesias led off with a double. Cronenworth tried to bunt him to third base but settled for moving him over with a groundball to first that Alonso had to make a diving play on to prevent it from scooting into right field.
Then Bryce Johnson tried a squeeze bunt to plate the game’s second run.
But it was a safety squeeze into a drawn-in infield and Manaea had plenty of time to make a glove-flip to get Iglesias after fielding the ball in front of the mound.
Originally Published: July 29, 2025 at 5:52 PM PDT