Petco Park- San Diego, CA

It was inevitable. Everyone around San Diego could feel it. The Nationals were coming to town. It was James Wood’s first time coming to San Diego after the franchise packaged him in the deal that gave the Padres Juan Soto in August 2022.

Stephen Kolek didn’t help matters by totally unraveling in the top of the fourth inning. He lit the fire for Washington by allowing CJ Abrams to reach base on his own throwing error, putting him in scoring position. Wood made his first mark on the game, with an RBI single. Luis Garcia Jr. followed that up with a double, putting Wood at third base. A Nathaniel Lowe single and Josh Bell sacrifice fly quickly made it 3-0. Brady House put the finishing touches on the inning with an RBI single, stretching the lead to four.

Manny Machado did what he could by himself, hitting a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth. His 13th home run of the season cut the deficit to three. It felt like, if the Padres pitching staff could hold their water, the Padres bats would mount a comeback inning-by-inning.

Unfortunately, the Padres pitchers could not hold Washington there. After allowing two more hits in the fifth, Kolek was relieved of duty in favor of Wandy Peralta, who promptly allowed four straight hits to make it 6-1, Nationals.

Gavin Sheets would later single home a run to make it 6-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Jake Cronenworth added a solo shot in the seventh. It still felt like the Padres were within striking distance.

Until James Wood happened.

In the top of the eighth, David Morgan relieved Bryan Hoeing to try and keep the Nats at six. With two runners on and two outs, the hulking lefty slugger came to the plate and walloped a screaming line drive over the right field fence for what was essentially, a game-sealing, three-run shot for Wood and the Nationals. It put Washington up 9-3.

The cruel baseball gods were not done with the Padres, yet. Josh Bell, who had struggled mightily ahead of this game to the tune of a sub-.200 batting average, launched a home run of his own off of his old team. With the score 10-3, and Wood and Bell with homers, Abrams with three hits, the baseball world looked on as the Nationals put their return in the Juan Soto trade on full display.

Indeed, it wasn’t a great look for the Padres on Monday night. However, they did not go down without a fight. Fernando Tatis Jr. launched a three-run homer in the ninth, but it was much too little, much too late as the Padres fell 10-6.

Nick Lee

Native of Escondido, CA. Lived in San Diego area for 20 years. Padres fan since childhood (mid-90s). I have been writing since 2014. I currently live near Seattle, WA and am married to a Seattle sports girl. I wore #19 on my high school baseball team for Tony Gwynn. I am a stats and sports history nerd. I attended BYU on the Idaho campus. I also love Star Wars.