There were more than a few double-takes around Major League Baseball when the host San Diego Padres unveiled their lineup for Saturday night’s game with the Colorado Rockies that listed Fernando Tatis Jr. at second base.
The Platinum Glove right fielder hadn’t started a big league game at second before Saturday but handled four chances without an error, crisply turning a 6-4-3 double play to end the seventh. For good measure, he enjoyed his first three-hit game of the year in a 9-5 San Diego win.
While Tatis likely will return to right field for Sunday’s series finale, the odds are good that he might play second base on at least a fill-in basis this year.
“He’s an amazing athlete. Can do about anything,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “I don’t know if you can unlock someone offensively by playing at a different position, but he had a great game tonight. He was electric.”
The decision to play Tatis on the right side of the infield came out of necessity. Stammen wanted shortstop Xander Bogaerts to get a night off, but the team doesn’t have a true backup middle infielder with free-agent signee Sung-Mun Song (oblique) on the 10-day injured list.
The logic was that Tatis, a shortstop when he came up to the Padres in 2019, would be better off staying on the right side. Tatis usually takes grounders at second daily, but there was little hint he’d play there at any point until the lineup was posted.
“He’s an option for us there,” Stammen said of Tatis.
But Tatis figures to roam in his normal spot on Sunday as Padres right-hander Nick Pivetta (1-2, 5.54 ERA) tries to square his record at .500. Pivetta took the loss Tuesday to Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-1, although he gave up just two runs in five innings and struck out eight.
Colorado will counter Sunday with left-hander Kyle Freeland (1-1, 2.30) in an attempt to avoid a four-game sweep. Freeland got his first win of the season Tuesday at home, defeating the Houston Astros 5-1 as he permitted only three hits and a run in 6 1/3 innings with a walk and five strikeouts.
Both starters have struggled with their opponent during their careers. Pivetta is 1-7 with a 9.64 ERA against the Rockies, while Freeland is 8-9 with a 4.46 ERA in 26 games (24 starts) against San Diego.
The Rockies wouldn’t mind some length from Freeland. The Padres have taxed Colorado’s bullpen for 13 runs over 16 2/3 innings in the first three games of the series. Colorado relievers gave up three sixth-inning runs Saturday to give San Diego cushion.
Mickey Moniak was the Rockies’ brightest spot in Saturday night’s loss, hitting two homers and going 3-for-4 with four RBIs. It was the second two-homer game in seven months at Petco Park for Moniak, a product of La Costa Canyon High School in nearby Carlsbad who attended the Padres’ first-ever game at their downtown, bayside ballpark in 2004.
“This is home. I still live here, so always a lot of friends and family here,” Moniak said. “It’s always good coming here.”
It’s not been quite as good for Colorado, which is 1-9 over the 2025 and ’26 seasons in San Diego.
–Field Level Media
