SAN DIEGO (AP) Rookie Fernando Tatis Jr. drove David Hess’ first pitch out of the ballpark and barely had time to put away his batting helmet when Franmil Reyes homered on the second pitch.
The back-to-back homers on the first two pitches were a franchise first and set the tone for the San Diego Padres, who scored all their runs on long balls in an 8-1 victory against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.
Eric Hosmer connected twice and drove in five runs, and Luis Urias also went deep for the Padres, who hit four homers off Hess and five overall. The long balls carried rookie Chris Paddack (7-5) to his second victory in three starts.
”It’s amazing. It created, from the beginning of the game, just something special,” said Tatis, the 20-year-old son of the former major league infielder. ”It’s part of my job. I take that so serious. I know when I go off, my teammates go off. Every time I go there, I’m just trying to do it for them.”
Tatis started the power display by lining Hess’ first pitch into the seats in left-center and Reyes then drove his second pitch nearly to the base of the batter’s eye in center.
It was the first time in team history that the Padres homered on the first two pitches they saw.
It was the 18th for Tatis and No. 27 for Reyes.
When Reyes homered, ”I was taking my helmet off and as soon as I saw it I just jumped up to the rail to go out and celebrate with my teammates,” Tatis said.
”Both of those guys can do that,” manager Andy Green said. ”The ball Tatis hit was scorched. It’s fun watching him hit balls like that. There’s few guys in the game that can hit the ball on a line like that, travel that far and just keeps going.”
Green said Tatis pretty much has the green light to do what he wants with the first pitch.
”I like that aggression out of him. He went through a phase earlier where he was having some success with being really aggressive first pitch of the game,” the manager said. ”Then he hit a couple of balls soft and backed off doing that for a while. I think ultimately he trusts his feel. If he wants to go, go. If he wants to swing, swing; trust what you can do.
”Nobody’s trying to tell him to go hammer the first pitch of the game, nobody’s telling him to take the first pitch of the game.”
Hosmer hit a two-run homer off Hess in the fourth that flew over the home run deck in right-center and a three-run shot off Dillon Tate, who was making his big league debut, in the seventh that landed deep in the seats down the right-field line. It was the fifth career multihomer game for Hosmer, who has 15 homers this season.
After Manny Machado tripled opening the fourth, Hosmer drove a 0-1 pitch to right to give the Padres a 4-1 lead. With two outs, Urias drove a 1-0 pitch into the home run deck in the right-field corner, his first. Urias was grazed on the lip by a pitch by Jimmy Yacabonis. He said he was scared but OK.
Hosmer’s second homer came after pinch hitter Greg Garcia was hit by a pitch and Machado singled.
Hess said he tried to ”attack early and establish a presence of aggression. That kind of bit me in the butt a little bit, but after that just really tried to settle in and make pitches and get guys out as best as possible.”
Said manager Brandon Hyde: ”The first couple of pitches obviously we were down 2-0, but I thought he did a nice job the next couple of innings. … Tough time keeping the ball in the ballpark for him.”
Paddack held the Orioles to one run and three hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Hess (1-10), who was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to make the start, allowed five runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked none.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: OF Dwight Smith Jr. left with a left calf injury after singling in the seventh.
UP NEXT
Orioles: RHP Tom Eshelman (0-2, 5.79 ERA) is scheduled to start will start Tuesday’s matinee series finale. He attended Carlsbad High in northern San Diego County. It will be his fourth start and fifth appearance.
Padres: RHP Dinelson Lamet (0-2, 5.00 ERA) is looking for his first victory of 2019 in his fifth start. He missed all of last season after having Tommy John surgery.
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