Samad Taylor Breaks Out With Career Night, Padres Rally Past Reds 6-2
A Career Night Ends a Long Drought
Samad Taylor, a 27-year-old utility player called up from Triple-A El Paso less than a week ago, delivered the defining performance of his major league career Monday night. He drove in a career-high three runs—including a tie-breaking bunt single in the seventh and a two-run line drive in the eighth—to lead the San Diego Padres to a 6-2 comeback win over the Cincinnati Reds at Petco Park.
Taylor, who had not recorded an RBI in the majors since 2023, finished 2-for-4 with a stolen base and two runs scored. His bunt in the seventh inning, a perfectly placed roller toward first base that Reds first baseman Sal Stewart bobbled, allowed Gavin Sheets to score and put San Diego ahead 3-2. Two innings later, he punched a soft line drive into left-center that cleared shortstop Matt McLain, scoring Xander Bogaerts and Jace Bowen to give the Padres a 5-2 cushion.
“He basically won us the game tonight, just being able to execute what we’re asking him to do: steal some bases, put some bunts down, take some good at-bats,” manager Craig Stammen said after the win.
A Win to Stop the Slide
The victory was just the third in 14 games for the Padres, who had dropped six straight before snapping that skid Saturday. Monday’s win lifted San Diego (34-30) back into a tie for second place in the NL West with the Arizona Diamondbacks, four games behind the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.
It also gave the Padres a chance to build some momentum after a brutal stretch that saw their offense go quiet and the bullpen struggle. On Monday, the bottom of the order—Taylor, Bowen, and catcher Freddy Fermin—combined for six hits, three runs and five RBIs. Fermin, starting his third straight game behind the plate, crushed his third home run in three days, a solo shot in the third inning that gave San Diego an early 1-0 lead.
“They basically won us the game tonight,” Stammen reiterated, crediting the contributions from the new arrivals.
How the Game Unfolded
The game was a tight pitchers’ duel early. Padres starter Walker Buehler scattered eight hits over 4⅔ innings, allowing one run while striking out four. Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott was sharp too, yielding four hits and three runs over six-plus innings, striking out six.
Cincinnati tied the game in the fifth on a single by Sal Stewart, then took a 2-1 lead in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Edwin Arroyo that scored Noelvi Marte. But the Reds missed several opportunities, going 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine men on base.
San Diego’s bullpen shut the door from there. Adrian Morejon (5-1) pitched 1⅔ scoreless innings to earn the win. Jason Adam and Mason Miller each struck out the side in the eighth and ninth, respectively, with Miller working a non-save situation.
Taylor also made an impact in the field. In the second inning, he sprinted toward the left-field foul line, caught a flyball and fired a strike to Fermin at the plate, who tagged out Matt McLain trying to score from third—ending the inning and keeping the game scoreless.
A Meaningful Start for Taylor
Taylor’s emergence has been a bright spot for a Padres team that has struggled to get consistent production from its outfield. He was called up from Triple-A El Paso on June 5 and made his first start Sunday against the Mets, playing in front of his paternal grandmother, Sheila Marshall, for the first time as a professional.
“It compares to my debut,” Taylor said before that game. “My grandma’s my everything. She’s my last grandma here. It’s another day of baseball, but it’s a meaningful day.”
Taylor, drafted out of Corona High in the 10th round by Cleveland in 2016, has bounced between four organizations. He entered Monday hitting .200/.265/.253 across parts of four MLB seasons. But at Triple-A El Paso this year, he was slashing .319/.406/.500 with seven home runs and nine stolen bases in 51 games, showing the speed and contact ability that the Padres hope can translate to the big leagues.
Broader Implications for the Padres
The win against Cincinnati, which suffered its fifth straight loss, provided a template for how the Padres can succeed when their stars struggle. San Diego’s top five hitters—Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill, Ty France, Manny Machado and Bogaerts—combined to go 1-for-16 on Monday. Yet the team still scored six runs and won comfortably.
That kind of depth is exactly what the Padres envisioned when they called up Taylor and Bowen from El Paso. With the trade deadline approaching and the NL West race tightening, getting contributions from the bottom of the order could be crucial.
“I don’t really put myself in the situation of, ‘I have to do this,’ to show the team what I can do,” Taylor said over the weekend. “I just take it day by day, pitch by pitch … and whatever happens, happens.”
If Monday night was any indication, what’s happening in San Diego might be a turnaround worth watching.
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