MIAMI - Luis Rengifo has only played in seven games for the San Diego Padres since being released by the Brewers in June, and in that amount of time, he has quickly emerged as a key piece during this critical stretch of the season.
During Friday's opener against the Miami Marlins, Padres manager Craig Stammen called on Rengifo, who was not on the starting lineup, to pinch hit for Luis Campusano in the eighth inning. With one out against right-hander Tyler Zuber and Jase Bowen on second, the 29-year-old connected on a sweeper down the middle of the plate for a late go-ahead home run to right field.
The two-run blast from Rengifo paired with an ironclad bullpen slammed the door shut on the Marlins, winning 4-2 and taking the first of a three game series at loanDepot Park.
Since joining the Padres, Rengifo is batting .435 (10-for-23) with two home runs, seven RBIs and has a 1.176 OPS. Not only did he hit his first career pinch hit home run but he is currently riding a six game hitting streak.
The crucial at-bat couldn't have come at a better time. The Padres started the inning off with a double by Ty France with no outs. After Bowen came in to pinch run for France, Jackson Merrill struck out five pitches later, which led to Rengifo.
Before then, the Padres had an opportunity to jump in front with two runners on base with two outs. Fernando Tatis Jr. was clipped by a slider by reliever Lake Bachar and Jake Cronenworth walked for a third time.
Miami would switch to Zuber and six pitches later, Manny Machado would get called out on strikes after an overturned ABS review.
Despite San Diego finishing with just five hits, the pair of runs they scored prior to the eighth came on a string of timely at-bats.
Machado and France forced Miami to start their bullpen game plan after recording back-to-back one out singles against starter Ryan Gusto in the fourth. Changing to reliever Cade Gibson, Merrill sent out a sac-fly to right fielder Griffin Conine to tie the game 1-1.
In the fifth, Bogaerts drew a four pitch lead off walk and advanced to second after a successful sac-bunt by Sung-Mun Song. A batter later, Cronenworth walked and right after, Machado gave the Padres their first lead following a line drive single to left field.
"We've gotten a lot of good contributions from guys we weren't necessarily counting on at the beginning of the season," Stammen said. "Ty just continues to hit. He's just a really good hitter. Samad Taylor, when he came up, and now Luis Rengifo, just some big hits in big moments and got us going. It's what we need right now."
While it was consequential for the Padres to win this game, they needed their pitching, specifically their starter, to not set them back.
Right-hander Germán Márquez made his tenth start of the season, but surprisingly only threw 37 pitches and pitched 2 1/3 innings with four strikeouts.
Allowing three hits, the only run he surrendered came early in the second inning after a two-out first pitch home run to catcher Joe Mack to give Miami the game's first lead.
He was replaced by Kyle Hart, who tossed two scoreless frames. Wandy Peralta entered the game with one out in the fifth to face Heriberto Hernández but ended up giving up the lead on his second pitch after throwing a changeup down the middle of the plate.
Peralta would sit down three of his next four batters and was swapped out for Bradley Rodriguez. He would only last 2/3 of an inning before giving up a single to Kyle Stowers and a double to Hernández.
In a high-leverage situation, Adrian Morejon punched out Xavier Edwards to end the frame. Morejon came back out and pitched a scoreless eighth inning before handing the game over to Mason Miller, earning his 26th save of the season and extending his save streak to 28 games.
Morejon was credited with the win and owns a 8-2 record this season. Since the start of 2025, Morejon has the most wins by a reliever with 20.
With the Padres holding the Marlins to two runs, it is the 30th time this season where they've held opponents to two runs or fewer. The Padres and Marlins also have played eight consecutive games decided by two runs or fewer which is the longest active streak in series.
San Diego is now four games back for the final Wild Card spot, needing to pass five more teams including the Marlins, who are now on a 10 game losing skid.
The middle game of the three game series will take place on Saturday at 1:10 p.m., featuring right-hander Eury Pérez (5-7, 3.53 ERA) on the mound for Miami. The Padres originally had JP Sears listed as their starter but since the end of the game have changed it to TBD.
THIS STORY WILL BE UPDATED