To date, Fernando Tatis has played in all but one of the Padres’ 52 games and he’s been in right field for 50 of his 51 starts. The 26-year-old superstar is in the midst of a cold May that’s dropped his OPS 169 points, but the Padres continue to ride Tatis as he’ll be in right field and atop the order for Tuesday’s 6:40 p.m. start on Padres.TV.
Kolek takes the mound. pic.twitter.com/dgLgI7GglD
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 27, 2025
“I come from a not an overreaction place … or an under-reaction (place) that mostly serves us well and knows the games hard and that Fernando is a generational talent,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “He’s contributing in other ways to our team that I see at least defensively, and in other areas, and he’s taken some at-bats that haven’t gone his way. And I expect him to be able to come out of it and we’ll work together to see what that looks like.”
Tatis is hitting .184/.253/.368 with four homers in 22 games in May and he’s got just four total bases in seven games (.271 OPS) since the team left for Toronto last week and went 0-for-5 on Monday.
The slump has dropped Tatis’ OPS from a team-best 1.011 at the end of April to .842, fourth on the team behind third baseman Manny Machado (.888), center fielder Jackson Merrill (.874) and second baseman Jake Cronenworth (.842).
A day after a hitless stay in Atlanta, Luis Arraez is back in the lineup Tuesday to face the team that traded him to San Diego last May. Arraez will hit second, pushing Merrill back into the clean-up spot and Gavin Sheets back into the five-hole.
Sheets is also back at DH as Arraez will play first base, Cronenworth will man second and Tyler Wade will get the start in left field after coming off the bench to score the game-winning run in the 11th inning.
It will be Wade’s first start in left field this season. He played four outs there off the bench in a game earlier this season and has 226⅔ innings (52 games, 20 starts) in his big-league career in left field.
Wade will bat ninth for the Padres (30-22), who are back in second place in the NL West, 3 percentage points ahead of the Giants.
Here is how the Marlins (21-31, 5th in NL East) will line up for Game 2:
Mad Max on the mound
📺: @FanDuelSN_FL , @FDSN_Marlins
👂:@MarlinsRadio , @FoxSports940
⏰: 9:40 PM ET #MarlinsBeisbol https://t.co/1LawDwmWqH pic.twitter.com/6G4HuXiwJb— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) May 27, 2025
Tuesday’s pitching matchup
Marlins RHP Max Meyer (3-4, 4.15 ERA)
The third overall pick in 2020, the 26-year-old has a 5.05 ERA over 119 ⅓ innings since making his debut in 2025. Meyer has a 5.16 ERA in four road start this year, striking out 23 against 11 walks over 22⅔ innings. He has allowed 10 earned runs over his last two road starts (10⅓ IP). Meyer beat the Padres in his lone start against them, allowing four runs in 6⅓ innings last year.
Here is how Meyer has fared against current Padres:
Padres RHP Stephen Kolek (2-1, 2.84 ERA)
The converted Rule 5 reliever has allowed eight earned runs over his last two starts (11 IP) after opening the season with 14⅓ shutout innings. Kolek walked a season-high three batters in six innings his last time out. Kolek allowed three runs on three hits in 1⅓ innings in relief last year against the Marlins.
None of the four Marlins with history with Kolek have hits off him:
- C Nick Fortes (0-for-1)
- OF Jesus Sanchez (0-for-1)
- OF Derek Hill (0-for-1)
- INF Connor Norby (0-for-1, K)
