Fernando Tatis Jr. ends homer drought as Padres power past Royals

Jeff Sanders, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jun 21, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — Fernando Tatis Jr. opened his arms as he jogged up the first base line in the seventh inning Saturday and raised them toward the heavens.

It had been a long time since he’d homered.

Too long. Far too long.

Tatis’ first homer in 98 plate appearances and 22 games snapped the longest drought of his career and propped up the Padres for a 5-1 win over the Kansas City Royals in front of a sellout crowd 43,241 at Petco Park.

The blast came a half-inning after Dylan Cease was pushed to 6 2/3 innings in just his sixth quality start this season.

The bullpen closed the game from there to give the Padres a chance to win their first series since June 6-8 in Milwaukee.

Cease had already thrown 102 pitches when he popped out of the dugout to start the seventh inning. He promptly struck out Drew Waters for the first out and got a ground-ball that was reversed into an out after a replay showed that Xander Bogaerts’ throw indeed beat John Rave to the base.

That fetched Padres manager Mike Shildt out of the dugout as Cease raised his right index finger to say he was good for one more batter.

But Cease’s season-high 110 pitches were more than enough.

Cease exited to a standing ovation, Jeremiah Estrada struck out Jonathan India for the final out of the inning and Tatis’ first homer since May 27 provided much-needed breathing room for a taxed bullpen.

Cease allowed his lone run in the third inning. Waters led off with a single and scored on Rave’s ensuing double. He allowed just one other hit in the game, walked three, hit a batter and struck out four.

The Padres had a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh when Jose Iglesias singled for a one-out base runner. Bryce Johnson followed with a single to right, and after a Martín Maldonado strikeout, Tatis yanked a 1-0 sinker over the wall in left on a 108 mph line for a 5-1 lead.

Before that, the Padres scratched and clawed their way to a lead.

Jake Cronenworth plated a run on a groundout in the second inning after Gavin Sheets’ leadoff double extended his career-best hitting streak to 12 games. Luis Arraez’ RBI single in the third gave the Padres a 2-1 lead.

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