Three games in, Tatis slugs first HR of season

PHOENIX — Now that he has homered and stutter-stepped his manner round third base, we will say it a bit extra emphatically: Fernando Tatis Jr. is again.

Tatis launched his first Major League dwelling run since 2021 within the prime of the primary inning of the Padres’ sport towards the D-backs on Saturday evening. With one out and the bases empty, he circled a belt-high Merrill Kelly fastball and despatched it to the primary row in left at Chase Field to open the scoring.

Tatis returned from his 80-game PED suspension on Thursday evening and had been off to a little bit of a sluggish begin. He went 0-for-5 in his return earlier than notching a single in 4 at-bats on Friday evening.

The receptions for Tatis have been combined this weekend, with numerous Padres followers having made the journey from San Diego to see him play an MLB regular-season sport for the primary time since Oct. 3, 2021. The cheers have usually drowned out the boos — and so they actually did after his first dwelling run.

Those cheers reached a crescendo when Tatis approached third base and carried out his signature dwelling run transfer — a stutter and a hop. He did so a bit extra emphatically than ordinary. It had been some time.

Tatis’ final dwelling run got here on Sept. 30, 2021. You could keep in mind it because the ball he hit out of Dodger Stadium fully. 

His dwelling run on Saturday was the 82nd of his profession. His first, coincidentally, additionally got here towards Kelly.