Fernando Tatis Jr. spent two months as one of the most surprising names on the no-homer list. He finally got off it on Saturday, and the way he did it fit the strange season.
Tatis went 207 at-bats before connecting for his first home run of 2026, taking Nationals starter Foster Griffin deep on a 1-0 pitch in the Padres’ 9-4 loss in Washington. He squared to bunt on the first pitch of the at-bat, then dropped the bat head on the next one and put it over the fence.
How rare the drought was
This is a player who has hit 40 home runs in a season and built his name on power. Going 207 at-bats deep into a year without one is the kind of split that does not show up next to his name often, and it had turned every Tatis at-bat into a watch for the first one to land.
The swing back up
The form around the home run is the larger story for San Diego. Tatis has hit .448 since May 24, a stretch that pulled his season out of the ditch and lined up with the contact quality the Padres have been waiting on.
The fake-bunt look gave the moment some life. A hitter with Tatis’s pop showing bunt against a lefty, then ripping the next pitch out, is the kind of clip that travels, and it gave a struggling Padres club something to enjoy in a game they lost by five.
What it means going forward
San Diego has slid lately, and a locked-in Tatis is the quickest path back to the version of the lineup the Padres sold in spring. The first home run took 207 at-bats. The week around it suggests the next ones will not take nearly as long.
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