Luis Rengifo launched the first grand slam of his career and Fernando Tatis Jr. moved into second place on San Diego’s career home run list as the Padres administered an 11-2 pounding to the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.
Luis Campusano also cracked a homer for San Diego, which won its fourth straight game and tied the Philadelphia Phillies and the Arizona Diamondbacks for the National League’s last two wild-card spots. The Padres banged out 17 hits, with every starter collecting a hit before the sixth inning ended.
San Diego starter Walker Buehler (7-5) sailed through six innings, permitting only three hits and a run while walking two and fanning five. It marked only the fourth time in 24 starts this year that Buehler completed six innings.
Kyle Harrison (9-3) struggled across 4 2/3 innings for Milwaukee, yielding a season-high 10 hits and eight runs with three walks and three strikeouts. The Brewers resorted to using backup catcher Gary Sanchez to pitch the eighth, and he worked around two singles to put up a zero.
By then, San Diego had all the offense it needed, beginning with a five-run second inning in which all the scoring happened with two outs. Jake Cronenworth put the Padres on top by slicing an RBI double down the left field line.
Tatis worked a walk — he challenged the call of strike on a 3-2 pitch by Harrison and it was overturned — before Rengifo rifled a 366-foot shot for his third homer. It came against the team for which he knocked in three runs during a 7-1 win against the Padres on May 14.
Milwaukee got a run in the third via an RBI groundout from Jackson Chourio that scored David Hamilton.
Tatis made it 6-1 in the fourth with a leadoff homer to right, his 12th long ball of the year. It was the 164th of his career, lifting him past Nate Colbert for second in franchise history.
Campusano clouted his fifth homer of the year in the fifth with Austin Hays aboard for an 8-1 cushion.
In the sixth, Jackson Merrill added an RBI double, Hays produced a run-scoring groundout and Campusano contributed an RBI single.
Brice Turang doubled home a run for the Brewers in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
