Fernando Tatis Jr. owns Tigers in postgame after lifting Padres to walk-off win

When the San Diego Padres got Fernando Tatis Jr. back from the injured list this week, they knew what that could mean for their chances in 2024. It is rare to get to add an MVP-level talent back to one's lineup late in a season like this. With the Padres already playing well, they knew that getting him healthy could put them among the best teams in all of baseball.

However, the Tigers clearly had forgotten what Tatis Jr. was capable of or at least thought he wasn't that guy again just yet. After Yu Darvish showed plenty of rust in his return to the mound, San Diego found themselves in a 5-0 hole early on Wednesday. The Padres battled back to force extras and that is where Detroit made its fatal mistake.

Fernando Tatis Jr. took Tigers' decision to pitch to him personally and made them regret it

After the Padres' bullpen kept the Tigers off the board in the top half of the 10th, San Diego made two quick outs in the bottom half of the inning without moving the runner at second over at all. Instead of trying to get Luis Arráez for the third out of the inning, Detroit decided to intentionally walk the contact-oriented Arráez and take their chances with Tatis Jr., who had already doubled in the game. He immediately made them pay with a rocket ground ball through the left side to score Jackson Merrill and secure the walk-off win.

When asked after the game about the sequence, Tatis Jr. made it clear that he felt the disrespect with his answer: "I took it personal. As soon as that four fingers went up, it gave me the push that I needed, the energy that I needed. I just want to come through for the boys.”

Look, there are baseball reasons for the Tigers to make that decision. Arráez is a really good contact hitter who was up with a runner in scoring position, and putting a runner at first adds force plays at second and third as an option to get out of the inning.

Unfortunately for them, they chose one of the worst guys possible to pitch to as a result of that decision and they lost because of it. Fortunately for the Padres, it could be a big step in Tatis getting his mojo back.

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