SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Padres were able to work one past Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler on Saturday in their 5-4 win by virtue of center fielder Jackson Merrill.
Facing one of the best pitchers across the major league and runner up in the 2024 NL Cy Young Award, Merrill was able to take him deep twice during the second inning to tie the game and then again in the sixth inning. Before his pair of homers, last year’s runner up for the NL Rookie of the Year Award has not hit a home run since May 27.
“It felt unfamiliar almost,” Merrill said. “But it felt great -- and it felt great to help the team win.”
To add onto Merrill's third career multi-homer game, it was just the third time that a player has taken Wheeler deep twice in a single game in his career. The two other players were Buster Posey in 2021 and Cody Bellinger in 2017.
After hitting his first of two, he snapped a career-high streak of 24-straight plate appearances without recording a hit and snapped a career-high 35 game homer-less streak. In what could be considered a sophomore slump, Merrill has never felt the pressure of a dry spell in his major league career.
Padres manager Mike Shildt and his teammates have had faith all season that Merrill would eventually snap out of his cold streak. Merrill has stayed confident in his approach to his game, even while undergoing a few early season injuries, including a right hamstring strain and, most recently, suffering a concussion while attempting to steal second base against the Diamondbacks.
“We have long memories,” Shildt said. “We know who Jackson Merrill is, how special he is.”
Since returning from the injured list on June 22, Merrill has hit .138 with a .429 OPS. However, known for his level-headed “never say die” attitude, Merrill did not shy away from going against a dominant pitcher like Wheeler.
“It was probably the best thing for me,” Merrill said. “His fastball looks like it's at your belt line when it's at your head. It's one of the best fastballs I've ever seen. I said out there, it was probably the best fastball I've ever seen.”
Not going into full detail, Merrill has said that he’s had to make some adjustments to his style of play at the plate. He would rather keep those notes to himself while only in the batting cage because he prefers to just hit and not overthink it.
“It was definitely a good matchup for me to go in there and just compete,” Merrill said. “Just compete. Stop thinking about my swing, I'm just competing.”
It’s a sigh of relief for Merrill to finally get the monkey off his back before the All-Star break considering the assumption that he would use that break to recuperate and get ready for the second half of the season.
“A break? I don’t want a break,” Merrill said. “I never want a break. Especially right now. If I happen to find it, then we go on break? I’d rather just keep playing.”
The Padres expect him to have a big second half of the season, along with a couple of other players in the lineup. And rightfully so, Merrill wants to put the team in position to win more ball games to keep up with the Wild Card race.
Entering the final game of a three game home series against the Phillies, the Padres hold a half game lead over the Giants for the last spot in the NL Wild Card. With the Dodgers ending a seven game losing skid on Saturday, the Padres are now behind 4.5 games for the lead in the NL West.