Fernando Tatis Jr. gives verdict on his 'cool' two-homer game against Cubs

MLB: Chicago Cubs at San Diego Padres - Source: Imagn — Fernando Tatis Jr. gives verdict on his 'cool' two-homer game against Cubs - Source: Imagn

Fernando Tatis Jr. and the San Diego Padres have been red hot this season. The NL West team remains the best team in baseball, improving to a 14-3 record after Monday's win over the Chicago Cubs.

The Padres have been dominant at Petco Park this season, winning all ten games heading into the series opener against the Cubs. While Fernando Tatis Jr. had opened the scoring with a solo home run in the third inning, the Padres' home streak was under threat as Chicago led 3-1 after five innings on Monday.

Jose Iglesias' RBI single cut the deficit to 3-2 and Jason Heyward added another RBI single to tie the game 3-3 after the sixth inning. San Diego completed the turnaround by adding three runs in the seventh to take a 6-3 lead.

The home team's late rally didn't end there as Tatis Jr. went deep for the second time in the game, launching a two-run homer in the bottom eighth. Luis Arraez added another run with a solo homer after Tatis in the same inning as the Padres eventually won 10-4.

Following his two-homer game, Fernando Tatis Jr. shared an Instagram story with his home runs from the game, writing in the caption (translated to English):

"A cool kid."

(Image source - Fernando Tatis Jr.'s IG)

It was a team-leading sixth home run season for Fernando Tatis Jr., who is now in an eight-way tie in first place on the home run leaderboard.

Mike Shildt, Fernando Tatis Jr. acknowledge Padres fans at Petco Park

After Fernando Tatis Jr.'s second home run of the game, the Padres faithful at Petco Park went into a frenzy. 'MVP' chants echoed around the ballpark for the fan-favorite outfielder.

The Padres fans were vocal throughout the night and manager Mike Shildt acknowledged their impact.

“Our play is equaling the crowd, the crowd is equaling our play -- I don’t know which way you want to look at it,” Mike Shildt said. “You’re talking about a Monday night, and this place is jammed and rocking. It means a ton.”

Tatis Jr. also hailed the impact of the Padres fans after Monday night's win.

“The crowd on our side is totally huge,” Tatis said. “It feeds us.”

The Padres are unbeaten at home this season and a third-largest crowd in Petco Park history (47,078), witnessed the team's 11th consecutive win at the ball park on Monday.

It was also the Padres' fifth consecutive win and the Cubs will have their work cut out in the remaining two games of the series in front of a amped up San Diego crowd at Petco Park.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash