SEATTLE — Gavin Sheets is scorching hot right now. The left-fielder blasted his team-leading eighth and ninth home runs of the season, recorded four runs batted in and reached base fives times. A five-run sixth inning lifted the San Diego Padres to an 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday night at T-Mobile Park.
The 30-year-old in his second season with San Diego has delivered as a key piece in the heart of Craig Stammen's lineup, homering three times in the two games recording hits in each of his last six.
Tonight's win proved to be a defining one for San Diego, who has throughly dominated Seattle this season. Sunday's win secured not only a series sweep, but a season sweep for the 2026 season. The Padres outscored the Mariners 33-16 across six games, allowed just two homers and holding Seattle's offense to 2.67 runs a game.
Lucas Giolito made his season debut for the Friars, earning the win after five innings and striking out three. The 31-year-old veteran, who signed a one-year contract with San Diego on April 22, marked the ninth pitcher to make a start for the Padres in just 46 games this season. The starting pitching depth will continue being tested as Nick Pivetta, German Marquez, Matt Waldron and Joe Musgrove all currently sit on the injured list.
Giolito struggled with command in the sixth, walking the first three hitters of the inning before being pulled for Yuki Matsui, who walked the first batter he faced before Randy Arozarena and Rob Refsynder hit consecutive sacrifice flys. According to the NBC broadcast, this marked the first time since 1920 that an inning began with four walks and two sacrifice flys.
Despite sitting near the bottom in most offensive categories, San Diego handed George Kirby his worst outing of the season. Entering the game, Kirby had six consecutive starts allowing two earned runs or less. He had not allowed more than four in a start all year. The Padres tagged the right-hander for six runs in 5.2 innings, with both homers from Sheets coming off the 28-yea-old who had not surrendered a home run in over a month.
Ty France, who had just five hits in the month of May entering Sunday's game, went 3-4 with three RBI's.
Mariners top prospect Colton Emerson made his major league debut at third base. The 20-year-old, who was selected in the first round of the 2023 draft, went 0-2 with a walk in his first big league appearance.
With the Los Angeles Dodgers resounding three-game sweep of their crosstown rival Angels, San Diego's three wins in Seattle allow them to remain just a 0.5 game back of the NL West lead as they welcome the Dodgers into Petco Park for a pivotal four-game series starting Monday.
Michael King (3-2, 2.63 ERA) makes his 10th start for San Diego against World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3-3, 3.60 ERA) with the division lead on the line.
