Petco Park- San Diego, California

Coming into Wednesday’s series finale versus the Cleveland Guardians, the Padres looked to build on their already historic 6-0 start to the 2025 season. On the heels of announcing Jackson Merrill‘s nine-year, $135 million contract extension, today’s game called for a little bit of…

Merrill Madness.

As Dylan Cease cruised through the game’s first three innings, the Padres would jump on Cleveland starter Ben Lively in the bottom half of the third inning.

Fernando Tatis Jr. would leg-out an infield single to start a two-out rally, which would later result in a steal of home to give the Padres a 1-0 lead after Luis Arraez had singled down the left field line. After the game, Arraez detailed the play, revealing it was a called trick play to get Tatis home. San Diego’s second run of the inning would score after Guardian’s third baseman Jose Ramirez committed a throwing error to first base on a Manny Machado grounder.

Who capped off the inning in style? None other than the freshly-inked $135 million man, Jackson Merrill. The young superstar would drive a Ben Lively curveball 388 feet to right center field and into Petco Park’s home run deck for his second round-tripper of the year, which gave the Padres a 4-0 lead. It ended up being the hardest hit ball of the entire day for either side, at 108.5 mph. Simply poetic.

Jackson Merrill is a San Diego Padre. pic.twitter.com/TlkvZYArjW

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 2, 2025

Dylan Cease continued to dominate Cleveland hitters, at one point striking out the side in the fifth inning. He ran into a bit of trouble to commence the sixth though, walking Carlos Santana to leadoff the inning and surrendering a single to Nolan Jones. Cease induced a Lane Thomas groundout, which scored the Guardians’ first run of the game. Mike Shildt would then call on the bullpen, ending Cease’s outing.

The final line for Dylan Cease: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 92 P

7 Ks from Dylan Cease pic.twitter.com/fvIRlMnGW5

— MLB (@MLB) April 2, 2025

Luis Arraez would spank his first home run of the season in the bottom of the seventh into the Petco Porch to give the Friars a 5-1 lead. Wandy Peralta and Adrian Morejon would work a combined 1.2 innings with only one earned run, which would be charged to Morejon in the eighth inning, which would be Cleveland’s second and final run of the ballgame.

https://twitter.com/KyleAGlaser/status/1907557336836878419

In the ninth inning, closer Robert Suarez shut the door with a 1-2-3 inning. He got Gabriel Arias to fly out for the final out of the afternoon. That marked his third save, ensuring a 5-2 victory for the Padres. Three saves in the team’s first seven games.

With the victory, the Padres surge to a perfect 7-0 record to start 2025. They get an off-day Thursday and start a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

It’s all perfect in Padre Land so far.

The first pitch is at 11:20 a.m. PST on Friday.

Notable Performances

Jackson Merrill: 2 for 4, HR, 2 RBI, 1 R

Luis Arraez: 2 for 4, HR, 1 RBI, 2 R, 1 SB

Fernando Tatis Jr.: 2 for 4, 1 R, 1 SB

Armando Dueñas

Armando Dueñas is a 25 year-old journalist. He is a native San Diegan who grew up in the South Bay area. A lifelong Padres fan and baseball enthusiast, he resides just about fifteen minutes from Petco Park, where his love of the game began.