The Padres Win the Series at Fenway and Start to Look Like Themselves

San Diego went into Fenway Park and took two of three from the Boston Red Sox to move to 3-5 on the season. For a team that had dropped four of its first five games, winning a road series at one of the harder venues in baseball is a meaningful step. What stood out across the three games was not just the results but the way the Padres competed, particularly on Saturday and Sunday when they found ways to win games that earlier in the season might have slipped away. The offense showed real life, the bullpen was excellent, and there are legitimate reasons to feel good about where this team is heading.

Game 1: Friday, Red Sox 5, Padres 2

Michael King ran into a hot Sonny Gray on the wrong day. King gave up four earned runs on seven hits across five and two-thirds innings, including home runs from Marcelo Mayer and Willson Contreras as part of a three-run sixth that broke the game open. Contreras' shot went 423 feet over the Green Monster.

Gray was sharp from first pitch. "It's a starting pitcher's job to come out, attack, put zeros on the board, and give your team a chance," he said. "That's just kind of what my mindset was today, was just attack early, get back to being you." Six innings, two earned runs. He earned that one.

The Padres managed four hits. Sheets had two of them and drove in a run. Campusano had a double and an RBI, continuing his encouraging start at the plate after his early-season struggles. The lineup ran into a pitcher who was on and did not do enough, which happens. Stammen kept the perspective steady. "I'm sure that's natural for every hitter to hit line drives and not get a hit, look at your average on the scoreboard and press a little bit," he said. "We've got to keep preaching that they're swinging well, they're hitting the ball hard and eventually they'll fall."

Friday was a loss but the response over the next 48 hours is what mattered.

Game 2: Saturday, Padres 3, Red Sox 2

This was the game that showed something real about this Padres team. Down a run late on the road, with their offense having managed just two hits through eight innings, they did not fold. They found a way.

Randy Vasquez was outstanding again. Six innings, one run, six hits. Combined with his start against Detroit, Vasquez has now thrown 12 innings with a 0.75 ERA. He is quietly becoming the most reliable arm in this rotation and has earned every bit of it.

The ninth inning is what people will remember. Aroldis Chapman on the mound, game tied 2-2, two outs. Tatis, who had struggled all afternoon with four strikeouts on the day, got a split that hung and lined it to deep center for a double. That was the moment. A lesser hitter with a rough day takes a bad swing or concedes the at bat. Tatis stayed in the fight and made something happen when it counted. Laureano followed with an RBI single to left-center to score the go-ahead run. Mason Miller came out in the ninth and struck out the side.

Cora was candid about what happened. "Yeah, two pitches," he said. "He had Tatis with two strikes and he hit the ball. And then a split that hung. Laureano, he's been doing that the last few years. So you've got to tip your hat to them."

It was also worth noting that Roman Anthony's relay throw missed its target on the Tatis double, giving him enough time to score easily. The Red Sox handed the Padres an opening and the Padres took it. That kind of opportunistic baseball has been missing early in the season and it showed up at the right time.

Laureano has been the most consistent player on this roster through the first eight games and Stammen is adjusting accordingly. "I think Laureano has had the best results and best at-bats we've gotten so far, so we'll probably see him more at the top of the lineup going forward," he said. Through eight games Laureano is hitting .308 and has reached base safely in six of seven games.

Game 3: Sunday, Padres 8, Red Sox 6

This was the most complete game the Padres have played all season and it came in the most important spot. Down four runs after a rough third inning from Buehler, they came back with purpose and did not let up.

Buehler gave up four earned runs in two and two-thirds innings before the bullpen steadied things. The offense did the rest. What made Sunday different was not just the hit total but how the runs were manufactured. The Padres capitalized on everything Boston gave them and then some.

In the fourth inning Machado appeared to kick away a pickoff throw not entirely by accident, moving runners into scoring position. Whether intentional or not it was a heads-up play, the kind of situational awareness that winning teams have. That sequence helped set up a three-run fourth that got San Diego back in the game. The Padres were rewarded for staying alert and the Red Sox were punished for a lapse. Boston committed two errors on the day and the Padres made them pay for both.

From there the extra base hits started coming. Bogaerts went 3-for-4 with a double. Machado hit his first homer of the season, a three-run shot in the fifth that put the Padres ahead 6-4. Merrill added a solo homer in the eighth and finished 3-for-5 with two RBI. Castellanos drove in two runs with two outs. The Padres hit .343 as a team on the day with five extra base hits and a .985 OPS. Five of their eight runs came with two outs. That is a team that refused to let innings die.

Boston tied it in the seventh on a Masataka Yoshida double, but the Padres responded again. Merrill's homer in the eighth put them back in front and Tatis added a sacrifice fly in the ninth to push the lead to two. Miller closed it with three strikeouts. Four saves on the season, zero runs allowed.

Stammen captured what Sunday meant in one line. "It was an example of what we could be, the type of team that we expected and have," he said.

What to Take From This Series

The Padres are 3-5 and have won their first series of the season on the road. The way they won matters as much as the fact that they won. Saturday required late-game composure and taking advantage of a mistake from one of the better closers in the league. Sunday required fighting back from a four-run deficit, turning Red Sox errors into runs, and stringing together extra base hits at critical moments. Both of those things speak to a team with fight in it.

Laureano is playing his way into a larger role. Vasquez has been the best starter on this team and is making a case to be treated as the ace of this staff right now. The bullpen has been exceptional across the board, with Miller, Estrada, Marinaccio and Morejon all locked in. Stammen noted his group has given up just two total runs out of the pen through the first week and a half of the season.

The rotation behind Vasquez still needs to figure itself out. Buehler has struggled in both starts. With Darvish on the restricted list and Musgrove still working back, the margin for error is thin. King bouncing back would help.

The offense taking a step forward on Sunday is encouraging and the underlying indicators have been better than the results suggested early on. Stammen has been saying the balls will start falling. In Boston, on the two days it mattered most, they did. The Padres made sure of it.