DENVER -- Make it an even 100 for Fernando Tatis Jr.

With his ninth-inning moonshot on Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field, Tatis notched his 100th career home run -- and put an exclamation point on a the Padres’ 11-1 victory over the Rockies in the series finale. He got a hanging slurve from Rockies right-hander Daniel Bard and launched it a Statcast-projected 444 feet onto the concourse beyond the left-field seats.

“I don’t think it’s still come down,” said Padres manager Bob Melvin.

In doing so, Tatis became the fourth-fastest hitter to reach 100 home runs in the big leagues by games played. His 362 games to reach 100 homers are more than only Ryan Howard (325 games), Pete Alonso (347) and Tatis' teammate Gary Sánchez (355). Coincidentally, Sánchez launched a couple long home runs of his own on Wednesday, as the Padres went deep five times.

“There’s a lot of work behind that,” Tatis said. “I appreciate all the people that have helped me. … This is for them and obviously for all the work that we have put in together.”

Of course, Tatis' first 362 games haven't exactly been uninterrupted. His rookie season was cut short due to injury. His second year was the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign. He played most of the '21 season, but missed time on various occasions with a shoulder injury. Then, in '22, he missed the entire season -- first due to a wrist fracture, then because of a PED suspension.

But Tatis has seemingly established some measure of durability this year. He has played in every game since returning from that suspension in mid-April. He's become perhaps the sport's best defensive right fielder while turning in a .270/.328/.492 slash line. On a Padres team that has largely underperformed, Tatis has been one of the steadiest players.

He may have taken a roundabout way to get there, but his first 100 home runs are now in the books. Would it surprise anybody if he added a few hundred more?

“He’s obviously a talented player,” Sánchez said. “With the talent he has, he can easily reach 500. I’m excited for him, glad to be his teammate, and I’m just along for the ride.”