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Cronenworth went deep off left-hander JoJo Romero to give San Diego a 3-2 lead in the must-win game. The 32-year-old also singled and is now hitting .200/.250/.400 in the postseason. He’ll have a chance to help San Diego stave off elimination again in Game 4 against the Brewers on Wednesday.

Where did that come from? Cronenworth entered with five homers and 31 RBI all season. His only previous two-homer game came in Apr. 2023 against the Brewers. That was also his last five-RBI game. He hadn’t even had a four-RBI game since 2024. The performance raised his OPS this season from .608 to .637. With the win, the Padres stayed five games ahead of the D-backs with six to play.

Cronenworth’s homer, the second of three consecutive homers off Cole to begin the game, was a 98-mph liner down the left field line that sailed over the low wall at Petco Park. The 32-year-old had 84 career homers since debuting in 2020, with every single one being to the right of an imaginary line bisecting the field. He’s hitting .212/.298/.296 with five homers in 351 plate appearances this season.

Hitting this version of Cronenworth second would have been standard practice in 1986, but it’s quite unseemly now. He’s batting .218/.302/.295, and while it’s true that he does bat lower against lefties, he doesn’t have a platoon split this season, coming in at .211/.302/.289 against righties.

With the scored tied at 5-5, Cronenworth poked a single to score Freddy Fermin to give the Padres the victory. It’s just the 14th RBI of the season for Cronenworth, and he’s disappointed throughout 2026 as seen in a .215/.309/.288 slash. He probably doesn’t care about that too much right now.

It looks to be nothing more than a routine night off for the versatile 32-year-old. Cronenworth had started every other game during the week at either first base or second base. Ty France will start at first base and will bat sixth for the Padres against Blue Jays’ right-hander Shane Bieber.

Cronenworth put the Padres ahead early, taking Zac Gallen deep for a three-run blast in the first inning. They would prove to be the winning runs in the contest as neither team could bring another run in over the rest of the game. The 32-year-old infielder is hitting .183/.285/.270 with three homers, 15 runs scored, and 10 RBI across 145 plate appearances.

Cronenworth is at second base and hitting ninth on Monday against the Cubs in his return to San Diego’s lineup. The versatile 32-year-old infielder is back after missing nearly two months recovering from a concussion.

Cronenworth was actually scheduled to begin his rehab assignment on Thursday, but never wound up playing in the game. He didn’t suffer a setback but was simply not able to get the full approval process completed to be activated off the concussion-IL. The team believes that it will happen on Friday. The infielder has been on the concussion-IL since May 5th, so he will need a couple of weeks to get his timing and rhythm back on this rehab assignment.

Cronenworth has been sidelined since May 5 and is definitely still weeks away. He might return as a utilityman if the Padres want to keep playing Fernando Tatis Jr. at second base.

It’s a bit unclear when Cronenworth suffered a concussion recently but he’s headed to the injured list with Sung-Mun Song coming up to take his roster spot.

The Padres decided at the end of the spring to go with Cronenworth as their leadoff man against righties, but that lasted just three games. He’s hit sixth, eighth, ninth and ninth in the Padres’ most recent games against right-handers, and he finished tonight with a .162/.262/.189 line and one RBI in 42 plate appearances. Still, there’s definitely no sitting him now, as Ty France is the closest thing the Padres have to a backup second baseman with the way the roster is currently constructed. Sung-Mun Song will eventually take over that role, but since he’s another lefty, he’s not someone who can platoon with Cronenworth.

The 32-year-old infielder drew a two-out walk in the third inning and was left stranded there. He then smacked a single into left field in the fifth and swiped second base, but the Padres were unable to cash him in. He’s having a solid spring at the dish, hitting .375 (9-for-24) with a homer, three RBI and a stolen base.

The Padres seem pretty comfortable with a 2-3-4 of Jackson Merrill, Manny Machado, and Fernando Tatis Jr., but the leadoff hitter spot has not been solidified yet by new manager Craig Stammen. If true, this would be a small boost for Cronenworth’s value — he would see the majority of the at-bats in a good lineup and could significantly bump his run total in 2026.