Diamondbacks score five in ninth inning to walk off Padres; Jackson Merrill 'woozy' after leaving game

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jun 14, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHOENIX — Geraldo Perdomo’s hand slid across home plate before Elias Díaz’s glove could come down on top of it.

Luis Arraez grabbed his head, one hand on each side.

The Diamondbacks poured from the third base dugout ready to celebrate. In the other dugout, the Padres players and coaches who lined the railing did not move.

Adrián Morejón walked off the mound and then circled back toward the Padres infielders gathered near first base.

It had all happened so suddenly, and a replay review was but a momentary delay to the shocking ending in an 8-7 walk-off victory for the Diamondbacks.

“Played a really good game for 8 1/2 innings,” Jake Cronenworth said inside a quiet Padres clubhouse. “It happens. They had really good at-bats there in the ninth.”

Further dampening the mood was the fact center fielder Jackson Merrill had walked off the field in the seventh inning appearing dazed after taking a hard tag in the front of his helmet while trying to steal second base.

Padres manager Mike Shildt said Merrill was “woozy.”

Asked if Merrill would enter the concussion protocol, which would require his missing at least seven days, Shildt replied, “That’s not something I’m gonna share with you right now, not something that we’ve made a decision on.”

What was known was that the Padres played a game in the manner they have been striving. And it did not work out.

“I wouldn’t change anything today,” Manny Machado said. “We just lost. It is what it is. But I wouldn’t change. Just keep playing the game. Trust our best closer to go out there and keep throwing the ball. I mean, I wouldn’t change anything.”

The Padres offense picked up a young starting pitcher that let the game slip away ever so briefly and then watched as one of the game’s most dependable closers let it slip away again.

The Diamondbacks’ five runs in the ninth inning were all charged to Robert Suarez.

He came in to protect a 7-3 lead and quickly yielded singles to Pavin Smith, Gabriel Moreno and Alek Thomas that loaded the bases.

Suarez then struck out leadoff hitter Corbin Carroll and briefly had the second out when first base umpire Andy Fletcher ruled that shortstop Xander Bogaerts’ throw had beat Ketel Marte to first base. But that call was overturned on replay, meaning a run had scored and the bases were still loaded.

They were not for much longer.

Perdomo lined a 1-1 change-up in the middle of the strike zone down the line and into the right-field corner for a triple that tied the game.

Morejon was brought in, and Josh Naylor topped his first pitch toward Arraez at first base. With the infield in, Arraez fielded the ball on the turf and threw home just a split-second late.

“You’re talking about inches,” Shildt said of the final play and Marte’s slow roller that Bogaerts almost turned into an out. “Either way, it’s a game of inches. … Changes everything. But it didn’t happen. And the end of the scoreboard is the end of the scoreboard.”

It was the second loss of the season for Suarez, whose 21 saves lead the major leagues.

“I just had a bad day,” Suarez said. “That’s all. … I just couldn’t do my job in the ninth inning.

This was unlike the May 14 game in which Suarez was charged with five runs while blowing a save against the Angels. He walked four batters that night.

This was just pitches in the strike zone getting hit.

The Padres were down 3-1 after Ryan Bergert issued his first walk and second single and then a three-run homer to Eugenio Suarez in the fourth inning.

Bergert finished five innings without further damage. And after leaving two runners on that reached base with one out in both the fifth and sixth innings, the Padres scored four runs in the seventh.

Gavin Sheets, who had given them a 1-0 lead with a solo homer in the second inning, began the seventh with a double. Fernando Tatis Jr.’s bases-loaded single drove in two runs to tie the game, and Machado’s two-run double put the Padres up 5-3.

It was on an the back end of an attempted double steal in the seventh that Merrill was tagged out by second baseman Marte and immediately hung his head and stayed on the ground for several minutes before walking off the field looking dazed and accompanied by three athletic trainers.

The Padres added two runs in the ninth and handed the ball to Suarez.

“We played a very good baseball game,” Shildt said. “… We did our part to bring it home. And, you know, we trust Robert. We trust him tomorrow. Just didn’t happen tonight.”