A 3-1 Lead Gone in a Single Inning: And Craig Stammen Made History Fighting For It

Okay, Seattle, you gotta hear about the absolute wildness that went down Saturday in Washington. First-year manager Craig Stammen got tossed from a game for the FIRST time in his entire career, as both a player AND a manager! You can't make this stuff up, folks, and it was all thanks to a chaotic seventh inning that saw his Padres absolutely unravel against the Nationals.

The Replay That Broke the Bench

Bottom of the seventh, bases loaded, no outs for the Nats, and the Padres are clinging to a 3-1 lead. Fernando Tatis Jr. fields a ground ball, fires to second, and it looks like a clean out on Dylan Crews. But the umpire calls him safe! Stammen, with a 32-25 record, immediately challenged it. Replay review upheld the safe call. Stammen was hot. "If we’re going to have review, you’d like to think we’d get the call right. My eyes might be different than someone else’s," he said.

The rules are brutal, man. MLB’s rulebook states arguing a replay decision means you're gone. Stammen walked right out, had a convo, and BAM, history made. Ejected for the first time in his career, after appearing in 562 games as a pitcher! "Took them a while to send me; did what I could. I guess I’m too nice sometimes," he admitted with a smile. Bench coach Randy Knorr had to step in.

The 7th Inning Meltdown Was Brutal

That ejection was just the cherry on top of a truly dismal seventh inning. The Padres started it with starter Michael King cruising and a comfortable 3-1 lead. But then King hit Crews, loading the bases with no outs, and he was pulled. In came Bradgley Rodriguez, and things went sideways fast. That safe call at second? It scored the tying run. Rodriguez then walked the next batter, putting the Nats up 4-3. A single up the middle scored two more, suddenly it was 6-3. They couldn’t turn a double play off Daylen Lile's bat, bringing in yet another run for a 7-3 deficit. They went on to lose 9-4. Tatis Jr. summed it up: "There’s no off-days over here, man. This game will find a way to still punish you."

Tatis Jr. Finally Blasts Off

Speaking of Tatis Jr., there was *one* bright spot in the chaos: He finally broke his home run drought! This dude went 207 at-bats without a dinger before Saturday. He faked a bunt on the first pitch, then on the 1-0 count, he drilled a Statcast-projected 451-foot shot to left field off Nationals starter Foster Griffin for his first homer of the season. "I just knew right away," Tatis said. "About [expletive] time." This was his longest blast since a 467-footer in 2021. He’d gone 55 homerless games, the second-most ever by a player who had previously hit 40-plus home runs in a season. He was hitting .480 in his past seven games. Stammen said Tatis had been "carrying that burden" and the dugout "had a good celebration." Even with Tatis’s power struggles, and other anchors like Manny Machado (.632 OPS) and Jackson Merrill (.601 OPS) struggling, the Padres are somehow still seven games over .500.

What a wild one, right? The kind of game that reminds you why we love this sport. Speaking of clutch wins, our Mariners just pulled off a nail-biter, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-6! Our boys in teal are battling every night. Let's keep that momentum rolling. Get your brews ready, Seattle, it's gonna be a fun one!

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.