Yankees even series against Padres after 10-run 7th inning
San Diego Padres' Wandy Peralta reacts as New York Yankees' Austin Wells runs the bases after hitting a grand slam during the seventh inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York explodes for 10 runs in the 7th inning, including a grand slam from Austin Wells
The New York Yankees hosted the San Diego Padres for Game 2 of the 3-game set at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx.
Ahead of the East-West clash, the Padres reinstated outfielder Jackson Merrill from the 10-day IL. Merrill injured his hamstring in early April and now returns to the lineup a month later. In his first at-bat in his return, Merrill doubled down the right field line, which almost resulted in an RBI. The young star wasted no time getting back to the action.
Merrill wasn’t the only player making a return. Former Yankee Michael King started his first game at Yankee Stadium since the blockbuster trade involving King and Juan Soto. He went up against Clarke Schmidt, who is another young arm that is the same age as King (29).
The game was scoreless until the 4th inning. King and Schmidt were pitching well. However, Schmidt induced seven base runners in those four innings. He walked Gavin Sheets to load the bases. Then, as he started to wind up, second base umpire called Schmidt for a balk as he did not declare if he would pitch in the windup or from the stretch. Manny Machado scored from third base to give SD a 1-0 lead. Jason Heyward followed with a sac-fly to left-center field, scoring Merrill.
King trotted back out for the bottom half of the 4th inning with a needed 2-run advantage as he was about to face the Yankees’ heart of the lineup.
The inning started well. However, the Yankees quickly tied it. Aaron Judge smashed a solo homer to right field just out of the reach of the jumping Fernando Tatis Jr. Then, a walk, a single, and a throwing error from Tatis resulted in another run.
King needed to battle his way out of the inning and finally did, but not before his pitch count reached 65.
“I thought (King) was really good battling a little bit and controlling counts,” Manager Mike Shildt said postgame. “I don’t want to speak for him, but I’m sure a lot of emotions ramped up, and getting after it, the ball was coming out good. Judge got him. I thought he was good overall in six innings of work, and he left the game as the winning pitcher of record, so I thought he threw the ball very well.”
The starters were able to complete six innings each and both earned a quality start. Tied at two, the bullpens would close it out. Former Friar Tim Hill entered the contest for the Yankees in relief of Schmidt. Hill would only face three hitters as he was pulled for Fernando Cruz.
Hill allowed two runners, and Cruz was set to face Tatis, Arraez, and Machado. Tatis smashed an RBI double that scored Sheets, and the Friars led 3-2. Arraez then walked, and the bases were loaded for Machado. New York avoided further damage by striking out the third baseman.
San Diego led by one as Adrian Morejon relieved King of his duties. That decision to remove King was costly, as the Yankees immediately made the Padres pay. They would go on to score 10 runs in the inning that was topped off by a grand slam from Austin Wells.
AUSTIN WELLS GRAND SLAM pic.twitter.com/eLmzAazJUx
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 7, 2025
Morejon and Wandy Peralta did not have their stuff at all, and it cost the Padres a loss. After the game, Shildt said that it was an easy decision to put in Peralta when he did. Because of Peralta’s high ground ball rate, he wanted a double play to get out of the jam. Though it didn’t happen, it’s clear Shildt is backing his player.
The Friars were leading entering the bottom half and ended up with one of their worst losses in quite some time.
“The bullpen has been fantastic, Shildt said. “Morejon has been tremendous, (Peralta) has been outstanding. It was one of those games and one of those innings. I’ll be happy to run them out there tomorrow.”
Game 3 is on Wednesday as Dylan Cease is on the bump for the Friars. Max Fried pitches for the Yankees as he aims to continue his hot start.
Chris is a graduate of the University of San Diego. He is the former Sports Editor for the USDVista newspaper. Chris has covered the San Diego Loyal, and now covers San Diego State Men’s Basketball. He also contributes regularly about the Padres. Chris is an athlete and is a huge fan of San Diego sports.