Good morning from Cincinnati,

Nibble, nibble, nibble.

Nuke, nuke, nuke.

The Padres could not get a run home yesterday until they just started hitting home runs.

You can read in my game story (here) about the unprecedented nature of their 6-4 victory over the Reds.

Hint: It had to do with the solo home run by Luis Arraez, two-run homer by Jake Cronenworth and three-run homer by Gavin Sheets.

The Padres need more balls to go over walls.

They won’t acknowledge that straight out. They simply say the homers will come and they like their approach of gap-to-gap line drives.

“If you hit line drives, you use the whole field and you stay on the baseball and you make good swing decisions and you have power, you’re going to hit, and you’re going to get your power,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “If you’re not making good swing decisions and you’re looking for power and you’re not staying on the baseball through the middle part of the field, you’re going to get inconsistency.”

In talking about the home runs – two against relief pitchers — we can’t discount what the Padres did to extend several at-bats, get seven hits, walk twice and run up Andrew Abbott’s pitch count to 102 so he was out of yesterday’s game after five innings.

This was no slouch finding his groove against a struggling offense. Abbott entered the game with a 1.79 ERA and was allowing a .193 batting average across his 13 starts.

“Listen, that guy threw the ball well, but you looked up and he’s in the fifth grinding on 95 pitches,” Shildt said. “And we had good at bats. … Guys just kept going, going, going, going, going. Sometimes, you don’t actually break through at that moment, but you’re setting yourself up to break through later. And break through, we did.”

I wrote a couple times earlier this season about how the Padres lagged in home runs at the beginning of 2024 before heating up with the summer weather. But their line drive approach began yielding more home runs earlier last season.

Through 82 games in ‘24, they ranked eighth in the major leagues with 88 home runs. They were 14th with an average of 1.07 homers per game.

Even after yesterday’s homerpalooza — just their fifth three-homer game this season and their second this week — the Padres’ 72 homers are fourth-fewest in the majors. Their average per game (0.88) also is fourth lowest.

Hitting coach Victor Rodriguez is a big believer in not looking for home runs. You do that, he says, you don’t hit them. And you probably don’t hit much at all.

“How about the guys who got on before the homers,” Rodriguez said last night. “I love homers. But I love homers with people on base.”

The Padres finished last season tied for 10th with 190 home runs. Manny Machado (23) and Jackson Merrill (21) both ranked among the top 17 in MLB in homers from June 12 through the end of the season.

The whole Sheets

The Padres are looking to add a right-handed hitter before the trade deadline.

Left field is where their focus is. But they will make a right-handed hitter fit anywhere.

It could be a first baseman, a second baseman. And there is always the designated hitter to work with.

One thing giving them some flexibility is Sheets’ improvement in left field.

“He’s an above-average outfielder,” said Dave Macias, the Padres’ outfield coach. “He’s smart. He’s athletic. He can throw. He’s just a little bit bigger guy. He’s different than Jackson. But he’s a good outfielder.  And getting consistency, (getting) reps out there is making him feel more comfortable.”

No one is saying Sheets is going to win a Gold Glove. The Padres have two players on their bench most days who are better defensively than Sheets. One of them, Bryce Johnson, was a defensive replacement for Sheets in the ninth inning yesterday.

But Sheets is the one who hit the three-run homer that won the game, and his potential to do so is why he is in the lineup every day. So he has worked hard to get better defensively and worked to keep his body right to meet the demands of being in the field virtually every day.

There can be no disputing he has been playing his adopted position with far more authority and virtually no blunders over the past few weeks.

Just before his deciding blast in the seventh inning Saturday, Sheets ran 58 feet and made a diving catch in the corner for the third out of the sixth inning on a ball that would have gone for at least a double and driven in a run.

“He beat ’em on both sides of the ball today,” Shildt said.

“I think the biggest thing is just the work that we’ve been putting in is starting to pay off in games,” Sheets said. “You can do as much as you want in practice, but until it works in games, until you see it feeding off games, that’s what really matters. So (starting) to see it work in games and making better reads, better and better each day.”

There is no need to rehash the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Sheets’ two runs into the wall — once with his body leaving an imprint in the padding and knocking him from the game and the other with his glove falling off and going over the wall while the ball hit about three feet below the top of the wall. Everyone saw the sometimes awkward routes and late jumps.

Those came at a time when he was hardly playing there and had hardly ever played there.

Sheets entered this season having made eight starts and played a total of 75 innings in left field. He had in his first four seasons, with the White Sox, spent most of his time in right field, at first base and as a designated hitter.

And he was alternating early this season between first base, left and DH.

“It was tough in the beginning,” Sheets said. “I knew the role was going to be a lot of DH and then kind of bounce around to pick a guy up at first, pick a guy up in left. And with left being relatively new this year, it’s tough. You’re not getting as much work out there, and you just feel kind of naked every time you’re out there. But Macias and I put in a lot of work and feel a lot more comfortable out there. It’s still not perfect, but grinding out there and feel a lot more comfortable.”

Yesterday’s start in left field was Sheets’ 12th in the past 14 games. He had started seven of the previous 18 and just two of the season’s first 50 games.

He has not played at first base since June 8.

“Just getting out there consistently,” Sheets said of left field. “And I think too, just being able to — ‘Hey, they want me to play left field All right, I’m gonna focus on left field. And I’m gonna try to be the best I can be out there and help this team win games out there.’ And that’s kind of the approach I’ve taken.”

The left-handed batter is hitting .265 with a .792 OPS after going 3-for-5 with two doubles and the home Yesterday. Sheets  moved into the team RBI lead with 49, is tied for second with 13 home runs and is fourth with 14 doubles.

Ever since he showed his offensive renaissance was real, the Padres were always going to find a spot for him in the lineup.

His playing a solid left field has also allowed them to work other players in at DH, which further allows for flexibility to get other players starts in the field. That is what happened yesterday with right-handed-batting Jose Iglesias playing second base against left-hander Andrew Abbott.

“He’s done a nice job for us, right?” Shildt said of Sheets. “And so, when you look at lineups like today’s … we’ve got a tough lefty out there. We want our everyday guys in there, but we also want Sheets’ bat in there, and we want to get Iglesias in there. So where does Jose fit? He fits today at second base, which allows (Luis Arraez) to get a DH day, which he can come back tomorrow and be good and have some energy on a turnaround game. If Sheets can’t go play left field, he’s got to be in the DH spot and doesn’t get Iglesias in there or tomorrow get a particular guy off their feet to go take that DH day. So it’s very, very valuable.”

Not to be left out

Hitters talk constantly about their constant adjustments.

Sometimes they have to make tweaks because of what pitchers are doing. Sometimes the adjustment is to essentially make no adjustment.

For left-handed batters who don’t fare well against lefty pitchers, it is often a matter of them being jumpy and “opening up” too soon.

Sheets, who for the first time in his career is truly getting a shot at being an everyday player, was talking about that earlier this week

“Yeah, staying staying closed on my front side,” he said of his focus when facing left-handers. “… When I can do that, I feel like I’m seeing it better and give myself more of a chance.”

Here is what staying closed looks like (from a screen grab of the Padres.TV telecast yesterday):

Here is what flying open looks like (from Padres.TV on Friday night):

Facing Andrew Abbott, one of the toughest left-handers in the National League yesterday, Sheets doubled twice in three at-bats. Abbott was allowing a .169 batting average and had given up two doubles and a home run in 71 plate appearances against him by lefties this season.

“You know when you come into today’s game, you understand what you’re going up against,” Sheets said. “You know what kind of season he’s having, what kind of stuff he has.”

After getting two extra-base hits against a left-hander for the first time in his career, Sheets is batting .225 (16-for-71) with a .615 OPS against lefties this season. That batting average is 57 points higher than his career average against lefties entering this season, and the OPS is 157 points higher.

And, yes, Rece Hinds could have caught Sheets’ second double had he not come in on a bullet right at him. That doesn’t change the fact that Sheets squared up a fastball and sent it to right field at 107 mph.

On a roll

Left-hander Adrian Morejón extended his streak to 17 appearances without allowing an earned run by working a 1-2-3 seventh inning yesterday.

He ended his three outs with three different pitches — a slider, a sinker and a changeup.

Morejón’s changeup made its debut on May 23. He has thrown 17 of them, and hitters are 0-for-8 in at-bats ending on the pitch.

The pitch drops and breaks away from right-handers, which are the only ones he uses it against.

“We know that he can get lefties out,” Niebla said. “The spin has been consistent, the fastball has been well-located. But the emergence of the changeup now, when he needs it … that’s just neutralizing some of the right-handed hitters.”

Going back 21 appearances, he has allowed just one earned run on seven hits and two walks (one intentional) while striking out 18 in 18⅔ innings. He has stranded 13 of the 15 runners he has inherited in that span.

His overall ERA is 1.98 in 39 appearances (36 ⅓ innings).

Perhaps most impressive is that Morejón is having that success while averaging 13.7 pitches per inning this season, tied for fifth fewest in the major leagues.

King update

I posted a story (here) before yesterday’s game about Michael King’s “progression” into a throwing program.

We still don’t know when — or even for sure if — he will pitch this season. The nerve issue he is dealing with is unpredictable.

However, he has realized improvement in strength.

And one clear sign he believes his progress is significant is King’s demeanor.

On the last road trip, he was dour. That is in stark contrast to how King usually presents himself. And it has been noticeable over the past week that he has been more like his usual jovial self.

He observed that he has “been in a very positive mood” because of the progress.

“It was really hard when I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “But now that I can see it, it’s a lot easier.”

Darvish update

Yu Darvish threw 31 pitches in the bullpen yesterday, and Shildt said the plan is for him to pitch another simulated game in the coming week.

The Padres continue to not push the veteran right-hander. The important thing, team sources insist, is that he returns to pitch well in the season’s final two months and the playoffs.

Darvish, who is working back from elbow discomfort that has sidelined him since the middle of spring training, threw 51 pitches in a simulated game against players at low-A Lake Elsinore on Wednesday.

Tidbits

  • Sheets’ home run was just the second by the Padres this season that came with them trailing and gave them the lead. He had the other one, as well, on May 28 against the Marlins.
  • Yesterday’s comeback from three runs down was the Padres’ eighth victory in a game in which they trailed by at least that many runs. That is second most in the major leagues behind the Giants’ nine.
  • The Padres’ 28 victories by one or two runs are tied with the Astros for most in the majors.
  • Jason Adam yesterday worked his first clean inning since June 1. He had allowed at least one hit in 11 consecutive appearances. He allowed at least one run in three of those games. Adam lowered his season ERA to 1.74 in an MLB-leading 41 games (41⅔ innings).
  • Machado was 2-for-5 and is now seven hits from 2,000 in his career.
  • Merrill got back to hitting after only walking the past two games. He went 2-for-5 yesterday to extend his on-base streak to 11 games, during which he has a .417 on-base percentage. Merrill walked once Wednesday and twice Friday, giving him eight walks in a span of 43 plate appearances. He had walked eight times all season (164 plate appearances) before that.
  • Arraez’s home run was his fourth of the season and his eighth in the past two seasons. Two of those eight (one each year) have come at Great American Ball Park.
  • Shildt confirmed Nick Pivetta and Dylan Cease will start Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, against the Phillies. Someone needs to be called up to start Monday. Matt Waldron, who has always seemed the leading candidate, has not taken his turn in the rotation for Triple-A El Paso this week.

All right, that’s it for me.

Early game today (10:40 a.m. PT) and then a flight to Philadelphia.

Talk to you tomorrow.

P.S. I’m not exactly sure why the Padres would not wear their brown tops all the time on the road.

Most starting pitchers (who pick the uniforms for their start) and most Padres position players prefer the sand pinstripe uniform. But the brown tops and sand pants combination is scientifically proven to be better looking.

And the Padres are now 4-3 when wearing them, including wins the past two games (at Dodger Stadium on June 19 and yesterday).

All but one of the seven times they have worn the brown tops has been in a game following at least one road loss.

Randy Vásquez has been the pitcher for three of those games, Cease for two, Stephen Kolek for one and Ryan Bergert for one.