No one is less surprised about Sánchez's HR than Snell

MIAMI -- Perhaps more than any other pitcher in the big leagues, Blake Snell knows what Gary Sánchez is capable of at the plate. You leave a hittable pitch over the middle? Sánchez is liable to hit it out.

Snell has surrendered more home runs to Sánchez than any other hitter. Clearly, the Padres left-hander prefers pitching with Sánchez behind the plate.

“He sees me well,” Snell quipped. “So he knows what to call.”

Officially, Sánchez joined the Padres on Tuesday -- a day after they’d claimed the veteran backstop off waivers from the Mets. But Sánchez announced his arrival in Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Marlins at loanDepot park. He found himself involved in just about everything.

Sánchez hit a laser home run in the third inning, giving the Padres a 1-0 lead. He backstopped six scoreless frames from Snell. Then, in the ninth, Sánchez was part of a strange play in which he found himself up the line and unable to receive a cutoff throw at the plate.

Busy night.

“It felt good to be able to give us that 1-0 advantage,” Sánchez said through Padres Spanish interpreter Danny Sanchez. “But at the end of the day, we didn’t get the win. That’s really what matters.”

Ultimately, Nick Fortes’ walk-off single was the difference. Padres closer Josh Hader surrendered as many earned runs on Wednesday (two) as he had all season. Hader walked Yuli Gurriel to start the ninth inning. Jean Segura later tied the game with a single before Fortes won it.

“Just not executing pitches,” Hader said. “Getting behind guys, walking the first batter -- that’s not going to give you much success in this game. You’ve got to execute pitches and get ahead.”

Nonetheless, the Padres had a chance to bail Hader out. On Segura’s single, the Marlins were ultra-aggressive in sending Gurriel, testing Juan Soto in left field. Soto’s throw was not a good one.

It carried up the first-base line, and Sánchez followed the ball. Instead, third baseman Ha-Seong Kim cut the throw and fired home. But Sánchez had vacated the plate, and the ball went straight to Hader, who was backing up near the on-deck circle.

“Everything’s happening so fast in that moment,” Sánchez said. “Those are things that happen in the game. Could I have maybe stayed at home if the throw came home, and maybe we had a shot? Potentially. But I was just more moving with the ball.”

Soto’s throw did neither Kim nor Sánchez any favors.

“The throw’s off-line,” manager Bob Melvin said. “So [Kim] has got to cut it. … There’s still maybe some time to make a play. I think Gary was trying to follow the ball.”

Ultimately, the loss put a damper on an impressive performance from Sánchez. In the third inning, Marlins left-hander Braxton Garrett threw a cutter over the middle of the plate. Sánchez launched a 111.4 mph missile over the left-field fence for his first homer of the season.

In doing so, he tied the team lead for home runs by a catcher. Austin Nola, Luis Campusano and Brett Sullivan have one apiece. In short, that’s precisely why the Padres took a flier on Sánchez in the first place.

“He’s obviously got some power,” Melvin said. “Sometimes one run feels like more than it is when you get a home run, you have a lead and you’ve got your plus [relievers] coming in for 7-8-9. Blake was fantastic today as well. Probably the best we’ve seen him.”

Snell, who entered the game with an ERA north of 5 this season, pitched six innings of three-hit ball with three walks while striking out seven. He commanded his fastball expertly and paired it nicely with his changeup -- all while working with a new catcher for the first time. Albeit, a catcher who had homered five times against him in 21 at-bats.

“He hits well off of me, so … we were on the same page,” Snell said. “It was good. I enjoyed it a lot. Felt like we were on the same page and really comfortable with each other right out the gate.”

Unfortunately for Snell, a lack of run support is becoming a theme in his starts. San Diego mustered just two hits -- Sánchez’s homer and Xander Bogaerts’ infield single.

For most of the night, that was enough. The Padres’ defense was superb, and they got the ball to Hader with a lead.

“Anytime we've got Josh in the game with a lead in the ninth inning, we feel good about it,” Melvin said. “So give them some credit. They drew a leadoff walk, got a couple hits off him. Doesn't happen often.”