SAN DIEGO — Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado greeted Gerrit Cole with three consecutive home runs to begin the first inning, giving the San Diego Padres an early cushion they rode to a 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees at Petco Park.
Michael King threw six scoreless innings against his former team, and Luis Campusano added a solo homer that proved decisive as the Padres took two of three games in the series. San Diego remained a half-game behind Arizona for the final National League wild-card spot.
The Padres needed just 15 pitches to build a 3-0 lead against Cole, sending home runs to three different parts of the ballpark. Tatis opened with an opposite-field drive to right for his 20th homer of the season, his third leadoff homer this year and the 19th of his career.
Cronenworth followed with his fifth homer, an opposite-field shot that stayed fair near the Western Metal Supply Co. building in the left-field corner. Machado completed the outburst with his 26th homer, driving the ball to straightaway center.
It marked the second time in Cole’s career that he allowed three consecutive home runs to begin a game and the third time he surrendered three homers in an inning. But the right-hander recovered to keep New York within reach, holding San Diego scoreless until Campusano led off the seventh with a homer to extend the lead to 4-0.
Cole (8-8) finished with four runs allowed on six hits in seven innings. King (10-9), meanwhile, limited the Yankees to four hits and three walks while striking out three.
It was King’s second appearance against New York since the December 2023 seven-player trade that brought him to San Diego and sent Juan Soto and Trent Grisham to the Yankees.
New York threatened to erase the Padres’ lead in the eighth, scoring three runs against Adrian Morejon. Rookie Spencer Jones, a northern San Diego County native, contributed an RBI double during the rally, leaving San Diego with a one-run advantage entering the ninth.
Mason Miller secured his 33rd save, striking out Ben Rice with a runner on first to end the game.
The Yankees fell to 81-62, leaving them one victory short of clinching their 34th consecutive winning season. They hold the American League’s top wild-card position by 2½ games over Boston and trail Tampa Bay by four games in the AL East.
San Diego continues its homestand Monday against Washington, with a starting pitcher yet to be announced. The Yankees return home to face Colorado on Tuesday, with right-hander Cam Schlittler (12-6, 2.04 ERA) scheduled to start the series opener.