The Padres took on Colorado on Saturday night for the third game of a four-game series.

Xander Bogaerts and Gavin Sheets hit back-to-back walk-off homers on Thursday and Friday night to put San Diego up 2-0 in the series coming into Saturday.

Tatis Jr.’s first start at second

Skipper Craig Stammen caught many people off guard when he submitted his lineup vs. Rockies starter Ryan Feltner. Fernando Tatis Jr. will make his first career start at second base. He logged an inning at second base in 2023.

Saturday starters. pic.twitter.com/vHjeKbVfkl

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 11, 2026

Eventful first inning

Mickey Moniak homered to right field to drive in Edouard Julien, to give the Rockies an early 2-0 lead in the first.

Then, with two on and two out, Nick Castellanos sent a hanging sweeper from Feltner to deep left field, which got taken back from Jordan Beck for the final out of the inning.

Jordan Beck takes away a three-run homer ? pic.twitter.com/c5Jf2D7u8J

— MLB (@MLB) April 12, 2026

Crooked numbers in the third

Germán Márquez had a clean, bounce-back inning in the second, striking out the side in order. The third inning wasn’t as pristine. Julien and Moniak both took Márquez deep to extend the Colorado lead to 4-0, going to the bottom of the third.

San Diego responded right away. Ramón Laureano walked, and Tatis Jr. singled to put runners on first and second with one away for Jackson Merrill. Merrill would hit into a fielder’s choice to plate Laureano for the first run for San Diego. Then, on a 3-0 count, Manny Machado hit a two-run shot to left field that would go 403 ft. This narrowed the Rockies’ lead to 4-3.

Man, oh man, oh Manny. pic.twitter.com/ucPNnxlrx9

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 12, 2026

Taking the lead in the fourth

In the bottom of the fourth with one down, Miguel Andujar won a seven-pitch battle vs. Feltner and ripped a one-out double to the right-center gap. Freddy Fermin followed that with a walk. After Jake Cronenworth struck out, Laureano blasted a hanging changeup into the left-field seats to put San Diego on top, 6-4.

It’s Ramón’s world and we’re just living in it ? pic.twitter.com/zEC0dtm3qH

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 12, 2026

Márquez rocked around

The all-time Rockies strikeout leader, Germán Márquez, started for the Padres on Saturday. Márquez would not have his best stuff and location as his last outing vs. Pittsburgh last Monday. He would toss five innings, allowing four hits, with three of those hits being solo home runs. Márquez allowed four earned runs and struck out five Rockies. 55 of his 86 pitches were strikes. The former Rockie had certainly had his ups and downs during the course of his five innings. His five strikeouts would all come in a row as he would strike out the final two outs in the first and would strike out the side in the second. The Padres’ bats picked up Márquez, putting up six runs while the starter was in the game.

Another three-run inning for the Friars

With an out in the bottom of the sixth, Fermin would draw his second walk of the game to set the table for the rest of the lineup. Reliever Zach Agnos would walk Cronenworth and Laureano to load the bases for Tatis Jr. Agnos would walk Tatis Jr. to walk in a run to make it 7-4, San Diego. All of the walks would come with full counts.

Jackson Merrill then greeted left-hander Brennan Bernardino into the game, winning a nine-pitch battle with a double grounded up the middle that would deflect off Ezequiel Tovar‘s glove. This hit plated Cronenworth and Laureano and widened the lead to 9-4, Padres.

Bullpen holds it down.

Wandy Peralta, last throwing on Tuesday in Pittsburgh, tossed 1 1/3 innings in relief after Márquez. Peralta recorded two swinging strikeouts of Mickey Moniak and Hunter Goodman to start his outing. The left-hander would throw 28 pitches, with 19 of them being for strikes. Former Padres Brett Sullivan knocked the only hit off Peralta, a one-out double in the top of the seventh, to win the 10-pitch fight.

Ron Marinaccio entered the game with runners on first and second with one away and instantly induced a ground ball double play off the bat of Tyler Freeman. This would send the game to the seventh inning stretch with San Diego on top, 9-4. A Tovar double and Moniak single narrowed the Padres’ lead to 9-5. Marinaccio struck out two Rockies in his 1 2/3 innings of work.

Fireballer Bradgley Rodriguez started the ninth inning for the Padres. Rodriguez made easy work of the first two batters he faced. Pinch-hitter Willi Castro struck out on three pitches,s and Sullivan popped out on the first pitch. Then came two straight singles and a walk.

Jason Adam would enter the game with the bases loaded and two outs, with the tying run in Tovar up to bat. Adam was in a very similar high-leverage situation Friday night vs. Tovar to keep the game tied, but Saturday night was for the save. Adam would induce a pop-up from Tovar to Tatis Jr. at second base for the win.

Padres have won four straight and go for the four-game sweep tomorrow with Pivetta on the mound! pic.twitter.com/SnooOfzhzm

— Talking Friars (@TalkingFriars) April 12, 2026

Saturday night’s win marked the Padres third straight series, with the past two being against Boston and Pittsburgh. San Diego’s record improves to 9-6, while Colorado slides to 6-9.

Second baseman for the night, Fernando Tatis Jr. helped ignite the Padres’ offense with a three-hit showing, fueling a season-high nine runs. This marked Tatis Jr.’s first multi-hit game of the season.

Series finale on Military Sunday

San Diego will look to complete the four-game sweep against Colorado on Sunday afternoon.

Nick Pivetta will start for the Padres, and left-hander Kyle Freeland will do the pitching for the Rockies. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM PT.

Angel Flores

Angel grew up a San Diego sports fan, following the Padres, SDSU athletics, San Diego FC, as well as the Chargers. He is currently a third year community college student, and will transfer to SDSU to pursue a career in Journalism.