However Monday night’s game turned out, there was going to be a lot to talk about.
Like what would have happened if an umpire in New York saw the same home run it seemed most other people saw.
And what might have happened if Ryan O’Hearn had been in the starting lineup.
It was O’Hearn who hit a two-run homer off Giants starter Robbie Ray in the seventh inning to get the Padres to within a run after they had trailed by four runs almost from the start.
The game would end with that margin, with the Giants winning 4-3 because the Padres could not score again and because their apparent home run in the second inning was taken away from them.
O’Hearn, a left-handed batter, has yet to start against a left-handed pitcher since joining the Padres at the trade deadline. He was on the bench Monday against the lefty Ray even after hitting a pinch-hit RBI double Sunday against the Dodgers and despite his having neutral splits against right- and left-handed pitchers this season.
What the Padres’ comeback also did was bring an even brighter glare on the decision by umpire Mark Wegner, who made the call to take away the home run Xander Bogaerts hit in the second inning.
Until their three-run seventh inning, the Padres’ biggest scoring threat showed up in the box score as a fly ball out to left field.
That came when Bogaerts led off the second inning by sending a ball over the wall. It was ruled a home run by the umpires working the game, but after reaching up and having the ball go in and out of his glove, left fielder Heliot Ramos came down pointing at the stands.
A crew chief review, asked for by Giants manager Bob Melvin and determined by an umpire in New York watching multiple slow-motion replays, resulted in the home run call being overturned due to spectator interference.
The official word was that the replay official determined a fan had reached over the field of play and interfered with the fielder’s ability to catch the ball.
Heliot Ramos #17 of the San Francisco Giants looks on as fans celebrate a home run, that was eventually overturned because of fan interference hit by Xander Bogaerts #2 of the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Aug. 18, 2025 in San Diego, California. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
That would have been the fourth home run in the game.
The Giants hit three of them to take a 4-0 lead off Nestor Cortes before he got his second out.
It was the third consecutive game in which the Padres’ starting pitcher put his team in a hole right away.
Dylan Cease allowed the Dodgers three runs in the first inning on Saturday in what ended up a 6-0 loss. Yu Darvish yielded four runs to the Dodgers on Sunday in what ended up a 5-4 loss.
Monday’s early deficit happened and swelled even quicker than the previous two days, and the Padres this time were down by four runs before they even had a chance to bat.
The Giants appeared to have learned something facing Cortes six days earlier in San Francisco, where he allowed them one run over 4⅔ innings.
Ramos led off the game with a home run to left field on a 2-1 fastball below the knees. Rafael Devers came up next and yanked an 0-1 fastball up in the zone over the wall in right-center field. After a hard groundout by Willy Adames and Casey Schmitt’s double down the left-field line, Wilmer Flores parked another fastball at the top of the zone in the seats beyond left field to make it 4-0.
Cortes got two outs deep in the sixth inning without any further damage. David Morgan worked through the seventh, Wandy Peralta pitched the eighth and Mason Miller kept it a one-run game with a scoreless ninth.
But the Padres could do nothing outside scoring three unearned runs in the seventh.
They had just three baserunners in the first six innings.
Their fourth baserunner was their first to get to second base, as Bogaerts grounded a one-out double down the left field line in the seventh inning.
Jose Iglesias followed by sending a grounder to the left side that Schmitt, the Giants’ third baseman, bobbled and then threw wide of first base and into the side netting, allowing Bogaerts to score.
That is when bench coach Brian Esposito, managing in place of Mike Shildt, who had been ejected for coming out to talk about the overturned homer, sent up O’Hearn.
He ripped the second pitch he saw 417 feet to center field.
That ended Ray’s night, and pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets singled off reliever Ryan Walker before Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded out to end the inning.
Luis Arraez led off the eighth inning with a single before Manny Machado struck out and Ramon Laureano grounded into a double play.
Iglesias hit a one-out single in the ninth inning before Freddy Fermin popped out and O’Hern struck out against Randy Rodriguez.
The Padres have now trailed in 34 consecutive innings.
The loss kept them from moving within a game of the National League West-leading Dodgers, who lost in Colorado.
Originally Published: August 18, 2025 at 9:18 PM PDT