Fernando Tatis Jr. Says Padres Needed to 'Just F--king Hit' in Playoff Loss to Cubs

Fernando Tatis Jr. wasn't in much of a talking mood after his San Diego Padres lost to the Chicago Cubs in the National League Wild Card Series.

"Just f--king hit," he told reporters (54-second mark) when asked what the offense needed to do in the series for a different result.

Unfortunately for Tatis and the Padres, they didn't do enough hitting to advance. They managed just one run in a Game 1 loss and one run in Thursday's decisive Game 3 loss. They didn't even turn in a dominant offensive performance in their 3-0 victory in Game 2 and instead relied on their pitching and defense.

Tatis went an ugly 1-for-12 in the series and 0-for-4 in Thursday's contest.

He wasn't the only problem, though, as San Diego's only run in the win-or-go-home game came on a solo homer from Jackson Merrill in the ninth. The visitors went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position on Thursday and stranded runners on second and third base with two outs in the ninth.

Chicago was missing arguably its two best starting pitchers in Cade Horton and Justin Steele, the latter of which has been sidelined for the majority of the season. However, the bullpen consistently came through in the biggest moments, which proved to be the biggest difference in the series.

Caleb Thielbar, Daniel Palencia, Drew Pomeranz, Brad Keller and Andrew Kittredge combined to allow just one run in five innings after starter Jameson Taillon threw four shutout innings.

It was a dominant performance from the entire Cubs pitching staff, and the Padres offense was unable to "just f--king hit" for much of the series.