Three-time batting champion Luis Arraez came back to haunt his former team Tuesday night, delivering the tying and go-ahead hits as the San Diego Padres overcame an early 6-0 deficit to beat the Miami Marlins 8-6 in a wild contest at Petco Park.
Miami stormed out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning, sending 10 batters to the plate against Padres right-hander Stephen Kolek. But the tide quickly turned as San Diego chipped away—and ultimately surged ahead—helped in no small part by a rocky night from Marlins rookie Ronny Simón, whose three errors played a major role in the Padres’ comeback.
Simón, making just his eighth major league appearance, was initially charged with a fourth error as well, but an official scoring change later credited Xander Bogaerts with a single in the third.
The Padres’ comeback began in the bottom of the first when Fernando Tatis Jr. launched his 13th home run of the season, an opposite-field solo shot off Marlins starter Max Meyer that hugged the right-field foul pole. It was Tatis’ fourth leadoff homer of 2025 and the 15th of his career.
San Diego capitalized on Simón’s first mistake in the second inning. With runners on first and second and one out, Tyler Wade hit a sharp grounder that deflected off Simón’s glove into foul territory for an RBI single. Simón then made a wild throw while chasing down the ball, pulling catcher Agustín Ramírez off the plate and allowing another run to score.
The Padres pulled within 6-5 in the third. Bogaerts lined a single that originally appeared to go under Simón’s glove and was later changed from an error to a hit, driving in a run. Jake Cronenworth followed with a sacrifice fly to trim the lead to one.
Simón’s struggles continued in the fourth. His third error came when he mishandled a grounder from Tatis Jr. and fired a high throw to shortstop Javier Sanoja, allowing Wade to advance and eventually score on Arraez’s game-tying single.
Simón was finally pulled before the bottom of the fifth, with Sanoja shifting to second base and Otto Lopez entering at shortstop.
In the fifth, Cronenworth singled and came around to score the go-ahead run on Arraez’s clutch two-out single to center—his third hit of the night. Arraez, whom the Marlins traded to San Diego on May 4, finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and a reminder of the impact he can still make.
Jackson Merrill added insurance with a solo home run in the eighth, his fifth of the season.
Jeremiah Estrada earned his first career save, recording the final four outs in relief of Kolek, who settled in after his disastrous first inning to pitch 5 1/3 gutsy frames. Kolek improved to 3-1 on the year, while Cade Gibson (0-3) took the loss for Miami.
The victory marked just the second time in franchise history that the Padres rallied to win a game after trailing 6-0 at the end of the top of the first inning.
The teams conclude the series Wednesday night. Miami sends Sandy Alcantara (2-7, 8.04 ERA) to the mound against San Diego’s Kyle Hart (2-2, 6.00 ERA).
