Padres star's grand slam sparks debate about baseball's unwritten rules

Fernando Tatis Jr.'s first grand slam gave the 21-year-old the major league lead in home runs over Mike Trout and a career-high seven runs batted in.

Manager Jayce Tingler was less than pleased when the budding star returned to the dugout, particularly since it was the Texas homecoming for the first-year San Diego manager.

Tatis missed a take sign and swung on a 3-0 pitch with a seven-run lead in the eighth inning, and his second homer of the game finished the scoring for the Padres in their 14-4 victory over the Rangers on Monday night.

While Tatis said his manager congratulated him after his 11th homer, which put him one ahead of Trout, Tingler was quick to tell him he missed a take sign.

"He's young, a free spirit and focused and all those things," Tingler said. "That's the last thing that we'll ever take away. It's a learning opportunity and that's it. He'll grow from it."

It stung a little more for Tingler because it was the first-year manager's first trip as manager to his baseball home the previous 13 years, including the last on the staff of then-rookie Rangers skipper Chris Woodward in 2019.

"Just so you know, a lot of our guys have green light 3-0," Tingler said. "But in this game in particular, we had a little bit of a comfortable lead. We're not trying to run up the score or anything like that."

'Probably next time, I'll take a pitch'

The Rangers showed their displeasure by throwing the next pitch behind slugger Manny Machado. It was the first pitch from Ian Gibault, who replaced Juan Nicasio.

Rangers' skipper, pitcher suspended

Woodward was serving a one-game suspension during Tuesday's game against the Padres a day after Texas reliever Ian Gibaut threw behind San Diego hitter Manny Machado following a grand slam.

Gibaut was suspended by Major League Baseball for three games, appealed the suspension and was active for Tuesday's game.

Woodward immediately displayed his displeasure with what he perceived as a violation of an unwritten rule of baseball. After the game, the skipper said the pitch got away from Gibaut.

"I'm not pounding my fist on the table saying this was absolutely horrendous," Woodward, a former Toronto Blue Jays infielder, said of Tatis' swing before the suspension was announced. "I just thought it went just past the line.

"I didn't like it, personally," the manager said Monday night. "But, like I said, the norms are being challenged on a daily basis. So just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's not right. I don't think we liked it as a group."

Tatis, whose three-run homer in the seventh put the Padres up 10-3, said he got the message.

"I've been in this game since I was a kid," he said. "I know a lot of unwritten rules. I was kind of lost on this. Those experiences, you have to learn. Probably next time, I'll take a pitch."

The first homer was pulled into the San Diego bullpen in left-centre field on the hardest hit of the season for Tatis at 113 miles per hour, according to Statcast. The slam was to the opposite field and smacked a fan cut-out in the fourth row.

"They were both pretty impressive," Tingler said.