ARLINGTON, Texas — Fernando Tatis Jr.’s first grand slam gave the 21-year-old the major league lead in home runs over Mike Trout and a career-high seven RBIs.
Jayce Tingler was less than pleased when the budding star returned to the dugout, particularly since it was the Texas homecoming for the first-year San Diego manager.
Tatis missed a take sign and swung on a 3-0 pitch with a seven-run lead in the eighth inning, and his second homer of the game finished the scoring for the Padres in their 14-4 victory over the Rangers on Monday night.
While Tatis said his manager congratulated him after his 11th homer, which put him one ahead of Trout, Tingler was quick to tell him he missed a take sign.
“He’s young, a free spirit and focused and all those things,” Tingler said. “That’s the last thing that we’ll ever take away. It’s a learning opportunity and that’s it. He’ll grow from it.”
It stung a little more for Tingler because it was the first-year manager’s first trip as manager to his baseball home the previous 13 years, including the last on the staff of then-rookie Rangers skipper Chris Woodward in 2019.
“Just so you know, a lot of our guys have green light 3-0,” Tingler said. “But in this game in particular, we had a little bit of a comfortable lead. We’re not trying to run up the score or anything like that.”
The Rangers showed their displeasure by throwing the next pitch behind slugger Manny Machado. It was the first pitch from Ian Gibault, who replaced Juan Nicasio.
Woodard and Gibault were suspended Tuesday for throwing at Machado. Woodard received a one-game suspension and Gibaut appealed his three-game suspension
“I didn’t like it, personally,” Woodward said Monday of Tatis’ grand slam. “But, like I said, the norms are being challenged on a daily basis. So just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not right. I don’t think we liked it as a group.”
Tatis, whose three-run homer in the seventh put the Padres up 10-3, said he got the message.
“I’ve been in this game since I was a kid,” he said. “I know a lot of unwritten rules. I was kind of lost on this. … Those experiences, you have to learn. Probably next time, I’ll take a pitch.”
The first homer was pulled into the San Diego bullpen in left-center field on the hardest hit of the season for Tatis at 113 mph, according to Statcast. The slam was to the opposite field and smacked a fan cutout in the fourth row.
“They were both pretty impressive,” Tingler said.
Austin Hedges connected on his second homer, a solo shot in the fourth, as the Padres set their season high for runs.
