Luis Rengifo, bullpen lift Padres to victory over Marlins

Kevin Acee, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jul 24, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MIAMI — The Padres need help.

And almost every indication from inside and outside the organization are that president of baseball operations A.J. Preller is still looking for every reason to make moves at the deadline that make his team better.

On Friday night, they were able to at least keep pace in a playoff race they are nominally a part of because of an addition they made last month.

Luis Rengifo, an infielder who has reached the journeyman portion of his career, came off the bench in a tie game in the eighth inning and hit a two-run homer that lifted the Padres to a 4-2 victory over the Marlins.

The signing of Rengifo to a minor-league contract was a flier in a season that has hinged on them.

Rengifo played six games in Triple-A before being called up July 8 when Samad Taylor was placed on the injured list with a right oblique strain.

He has gone about joining Ty France and Taylor as role players who have at times been the biggest contributors on a team whose stars have largely had subpar seasons.

Rengifo, who began his career in 2019 with the Angels and was released by the Brewers in June after signing with them in February, arrived in San Diego with a simple aim.

“Just contribute to win games,” he said.

He certainly has, batting .435 (10-for-23) and driving in seven runs in five starts. He is the 20th player in franchise history to have 10 hits in his first 10 games with the Padres. The last to do it was Rengifo’s close friend Luis Arraez in 2024.

Friday was Rengifo’s third consecutive game with two RBIs, though his two-run single in the second inning Thursday and his two-run homer in the ninth inning Wednesday did not have the effect of Friday’s blast.

But after those two losses, the Padres (51-53) were able to come back and hold on Friday for their third victory in eight games so far on this trip that concludes Sunday.

They avoided falling four games below .500 for the first time this season and remained four games behind the Diamondbacks in the race for the final National League playoff spot.

It was a rare game in which the Padres’ offense and the pitching staff were synergistic.

And it was a staff effort.

The Padres have been taking a more holistic approach to getting through games, essentially leaning into their starting pitchers’ struggles by limiting them to two times through the order even if their pitch count is not terribly inflated.

Friday was as drastic a measure as they had taken, pulling starting pitcher Germán Márquez after he had faced 12 batters.

“We’re just trying to piece it together, use all 13 (pitchers) and figure out a way to get through the game,” manager Craig Stammen said. “Limited exposure or get guys in the right lanes, however you want to call it. It’ll probably be more of the norm going forward.”

Márquez had allowed a solo home run to Joe Mack with two outs in the second inning and had thrown just 37 pitches when left-hander Kyle Hart took over with one out in the third.

By the time Mason Miller came on to start the ninth and earn his 26th save, he was the sixth Padres pitcher.

With All-Star Max Meyer having gone on the injured list with a neck strain this week, it was known from the outset Friday that the Marlins were going with a bullpen game.

They used seven pitchers to get through what turned out to be their ninth straight defeat, which dropped them to 52-52.

A pair of Manny Machado singles and a couple productive outs in the fourth and fifth innings helped the Padres go from down one to up one.

Jackson Merrill’s sacrifice fly scored Machado after he and France hit one-out singles in the fourth. Machado’s next hit followed a leadoff walk by Xander Bogaerts and a sacrifice bunt by Sung-Mun Song.

After those pieced-together runs, the Marlins again struck with power to tie the game 2-2.

With one out in the fifth, Wandy Peralta replaced Hart and had his second pitch hit on a line 432 feet to center field by Heriberto Hernández.

Peralta got through the sixth before Bradgley Rodriguez took over. He left runners on second and third with two outs for Adrian Morejón, who ended the seventh with a strikeout before getting through the eighth.

He was awarded his team-leading eighth win because France led off the top of the eighth with a double and the switch-hitting Rengifo stepped in for Luis Campusano against right-hander Tyler Zuber.

“We’ve gotten a lot of good contributions from guys we weren’t necessarily counting on at the beginning of the season,” Stammen said. “Ty just continues to hit. He’s just a really good hitter. Samad Taylor, when he came up, and now Luis Rengifo, just some big hits in big moments and got us going. It’s what we need right now.”