Miguel Andujar 1, Dodgers 0: How the Padres keep winning without their stars hitting

SAN DIEGO -- Eight years ago, as Shohei Ohtani debuted in the majors as the greatest two-way talent since Babe Ruth, a New York Yankees third baseman provided some resistance in the race to be named the American League's best newcomer. Miguel Andujar would finish that season with 27 home runs, 47 doubles and five first-place votes for Rookie of the Year. Although he was no Ohtani, he appeared to be at the beginning of a distinguished career. Then, reality unfolded. Monday, in a renewal of baseball's current top rivalry, Ohtani and his $700 million contract led off for the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. Andujar, meanwhile, batted second for a San Diego Padres team that signed him for $4 million just before the start of spring training. The final result -- Andujar 1, Dodgers 0 -- underscored the absurdity of a season that has seen San Diego (29-18) edge ahead of L.A. (29-19) less than a week from Memorial Day. While high-paid stars Manny Machado, Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatis Jr. remained in profound slumps at the plate, Andujar supplied the entirety of the night's run production with a first-inning homer off $325 million ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Afterward, Andujar was asked if he felt like the same hitter who finished 2018 as the runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year. He laughed. "Shohei, I mean, he's the best player in the world," Andujar said. "But I feel very good." The Padres, as a whole, can feel reasonably good. Signed to contracts totaling less than $10 million, Andujar, Ty France and reigning National League Player of the Week Gavin Sheets have produced an .845 OPS to buoy a bottom-heavy lineup. Meanwhile, the $825 million trio of Machado, Merrill and Tatis has combined for a .591 OPS. Eventually, if this goes on for much longer, the Padres could take a plunge in the standings. For now, they are atop the National League West as baseball's most puzzling team -- and one of its most prosperous. "You know what? In the end, just take advantage of however long it's going to last," said shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who leads qualifying Padres with a .736 OPS. "We want to have 10 hits every night, but if you're talking about our offense -- I mean, they're the same, right? For today." The Dodgers entered Monday's game at Petco Park at or near the top of the majors in such statistics as batting average, on-base percentage and OPS. The Padres' ranks in those categories? Last, third-to-last and third-to-last. Yet, there was Michael King 100 pitches in, becoming just the second San Diego starter this season to complete seven innings. It was the kind of performance the Padres envisioned when they re-signed the right-hander to a three-year, $75 million deal, striking the kind of shorter-term, high-dollar agreement the Dodgers have doled out repeatedly. It was the kind of expenditure that prompted an outgoing, seemingly cash-strapped ownership group to otherwise confine itself to the clearance aisles. So far, the returns on modest investment have been outsized. Catching King's gem was Rodolfo Durán, a 28-year-old who originally joined the organization as a minor-league signee, homered Saturday for his first major-league hit, and threw out would-be base-stealers Ohtani and Mookie Betts in Monday's shutout. "I really think Durán made me a much better pitcher than I was today," King said, noting that he lacked command of half his repertoire. "I had two pitches and was able to execute those two pitches." Also 2-for-4 in the victory was Andujar, building on a 2025 resurgence after several years marred by injuries and below-replacement-level production. Andujar leads the Padres in batting average (.298) and doubles (11). He has never been a strong defender, and the team employs an everyday third baseman in Machado, but a collective absence of production has prompted rookie manager Craig Stammen to increasingly find time for Andujar. To some, the 31-year-old role player still resembles who he was when he first arrived in a star-studded American League East. "Same hitter," said Bogaerts, who spent a decade with the Boston Red Sox. "He reminded me a lot of (Rafael) Devers. ... They both can hit. You know, maybe a lot of questions was about the defense at third. Same thing with Devers. "Then (Andujar) started getting hurt. That kind of messed him up, but he always can hit, man." It remains relatively early, but Devers and his $313.5 million contract have provided a .665 OPS for the fourth-place San Francisco Giants. Andujar has contributed an .823 OPS, more than earning a $1.5 million base salary and picking up where he left off last season with the Athletics and Cincinnati Reds. Even so, his latest spot in the lineup was not expected. "Yeah, pretty amazing," Stammen said. "He's kept us going offensively when we've got some people scuffling, and every time he's swinging, it feels like he's hitting a line drive somewhere, whether it's at somebody or tonight over the fence and then one through the hole. Right now, he's taking some of our best at-bats of anybody in our lineup and been a catalyst for us to be able to score runs and win some games." Monday afternoon, Sheets spoke about what had propelled him to four home runs and seven walks across the previous six games. Non-tendered by a historically awful Chicago White Sox team in 2024, the first baseman re-emerged in San Diego last season as a power threat. Now, with bigger names offering little slugging, he is the club's No. 3 hitter. "It's funny. Honestly, it was just not trying to do too much, keep things simple," Sheets said. "The biggest thing is when you're struggling, you try to get in there and you try to do extra and do a little bit more. And kind of pulled back and did the opposite, and the results came." Later, Stammen fielded a question about the glaring underperformance of his star trio. The Padres have mostly succeeded without consistent offense, but Monday night would reinforce how thin the margins can be when Tatis, Machado and Merrill combine to go 1-for-9 (and when closer Mason Miller, who issued two walks, is less than superhuman). "I know those guys believe that they're going to have the seasons that they've typically had in the past and it's just part of that journey," Stammen said. "And eventually, at the end of the season, you look up and they've got the same numbers." Does Stammen believe that will happen? "Yeah, I hope so," he said. "I mean, that's what we're banking on."