Jackson Merrill got things rolling early with a homer that got the scoreboard even, and Statcast clocked it at 99 mph off the bat traveling 405 feet. It was the kind of no-doubter that tells you exactly how this game is going to go before it's even out of the first few innings.
Merrill's blast tied the game and set the tone for the barrage to come.
Manny Machado wasn't about to let Merrill have all the fun. He turned around a solo shot for his 22nd homer of the year that pushed San Diego's lead to 6-2 in the 6th, and it was the kind of at-bat that's become routine for him lately. Machado ended up going deep twice on the night, a two-homer game that did as much as anything to bury Atlanta's pitching staff.
Machado's solo homer, his 22nd of the season, made it 6-2 in the 6th.
Then Fernando Tatis Jr. put an exclamation point on the whole night. In the 8th, with San Diego already up 8-3, he uncorked a two-run shot that traveled 474 feet, the longest home run anybody in the majors has hit this season, per the Washington Post and MLB.com. That's not just a long ball, that's a legitimate moonshot, and it topped the previous mark of 473 feet set by Braves catcher Drake Baldwin earlier this year. On the night, Tatis went 3-for-5 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored.
Tatis Jr.'s 474-foot homer, the longest in MLB this season, capped the Padres' onslaught.
There was a time not too long ago when Tatis' power was the question mark, injuries and inconsistency chipping away at the aura that made him one of the game's most exciting young stars. Nights like this one are the answer to that. And with Machado still humming along as one of the most consistent bats in the league, San Diego's middle of the order looks about as dangerous as anyone's right now.
The final was 8-3, Padres, and it wasn't particularly close by the time the last ball landed. For a Braves pitching staff that's had its share of rough nights this season, getting hit with three separate homers from three different guys, capped by the longest dinger anyone's hit all year, is about as bad as it gets. For the Padres, it's another reminder that when this lineup gets rolling, it can bury a team in a hurry.